B 


r* 


■  ■■<.■*>. 


L^ 


LIBRAS^J. 

OMIVERSITY  Of 
♦  CAUftbRNlA  4 

ASAN  DIEGO       f 

* — 


THE 


ORIGIN    AND    PROGRESS 


LANGUAGE. 


"  Without  speech  knowledge  would  have  but  little  value, 
and  without  knowledge  speech  would  have  but  little  weight. 
The  union  of  these  in  their  highest  perfection  is  the  great 
ornament  of  man,  and  the  strong  characteristic  that  dis- 
tinguishes the  human  from  the  animal  species."— Thomas 
Sheridan,  M.A. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
AMERICAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNION, 

XO.  146   CHESTNTT   STKEET. 

LONDON: 
RELIGIOUS   TRACT   SOCIETY. 


Note.— The  American  Sunday-school  Unio?i  have  made  an 
arrangement  with  the  London  Religious  Tract  Society,  to  pub- 
lish, concurrently  with  them,  such  of  their  valuable  works  aa 
are  best  suited  to  our  circulation.  In  making  the  selection, 
reference  will  he  had  to  the  general  utility  of  the  volumes,  and 
their  sound  moral  tendency.  They  will  occupy  a  distinct  place 
on  our  catalogue,  and  will  constitute  a  valuable  addition  to  our 
stock  of  books  for  family  and  general  reading. 

As  they  will  be,  substantially,  reprints  of  the  London  edition, 
the  credit  of  their  general  character  will  belong  to  our  English 
brethren  and  not  to  us ;  and  we  may  add,  that  the  republica- 
tion of  them,  under  our  joint  imprint,  involves  us  in  no  respon- 
sibility beyond  that  of  a  judicious  selection.  We  cheerfully 
avail  ourselves  of  this  arrangement  for  giving  wider  influence 
and  value  to  the  labours  of  a  sister  institution  so  catholic  in 
its  character  and  so  efficient  in  its  operations  as  the  Londrm 
Religious  Tract  Society. 

45f*  The  present  volume  is  issued  under  the  above  arrange 
ment 


PREFACE. 


This  volume  is  intended  to  present  an  impartial 
view  of  the  origin  of  language,  and  to  contain 
an  epitome  of  the  facts  connected  with  its 
historical  progress,  so  far  as  that  progress 
might  seem  to  bear  upon  the  more  import- 
ant question  of  its  origin.  It  has  not  been 
attempted  to  write  a  general  history  of  lan- 
guage, as  this  would  have  been  incompatible 
with  the  limits  assigned  to  this  treatise,  and 
would  not  have  added  much  to  the  illustra- 
tion of  the  main  object  of  the  author,  which 
has  been  to  prove,  that  language  was  not  in- 
vented by  men,  but  bestowed  at  first  upon 
them  by  the  Author  of  their  being.  An 
attempt  has  been  made  to  exhibit  the  complete 
harmony  of  this  fact  with  the  statements  of  the 
Bible,  and  thus  to  present  another  argument 
for  the  authentic  and  inspired  character  of 
that  book,  which  professes  to  be  the  exclusive 
written  revelation  of  the  Divine  will. 


IV  PREFACE. 

There  is  no  separate  work  on  this  subject,  in 
our  language,  constructed  so  as  to  aim  sys- 
tematically at  the  slucidation  of  this  great  and 
interesting  truth.  The  learned  are  familiar 
with  many  treatises  on  language,  some  of  which 
are  unfavourable  to  the  views  here  maintained ; 
while  the  conclusions  of  others,  so  far  as  they  are 
carried  out,  point  only  incidentally  to  the  same 
result  as  this  essay.  An  attempt  has  here  been 
made  to  treat  the  subject  on  Christian  principles, 
to  compress  all  that  is  essential  to  its  right  un- 
derstanding into  a  narrow  space  :  and  so  to 
simplify  the  facts  and  reasonings  as  to  render 
them  intelligible  to  the  young,  and  to  those 
classes  of  society  who  have  no  learned  leisure 
to  employ  in  extensive  reading  on  such  a 
theme.  If  the  book  shall  be  found  to  render 
instruction  and  pleasure  to  inquiring  minds, 
and  tend  in  any  case  to  produce  or  strengthen 
belief  in  the  obligations  of  the  world  to  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  the  author  will  be  thankful, 
and  endeavour  to  present  the  glory  resulting 
from  such  events  at  the  feet  of  Him  to  whom 
all  praise  belongs. 

London,  July,  1848. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  dignity  of  man  as  indicated  by  the  possession  of  speech — 
This  endowment  is  peculiar  to  the  human  family,  and  is 
not  to  be  confounded  with  the  notes  of  birds,  or  cries  of 
beasts — Language  indispensable  to  us  in  our  present 
state — The  wisdom  and  beneficence  displayed  in  the  con- 
Btruction  of  sound — The  comprehensiveness  of  language — 
The  rapidity  with  which  words  may  be  uttered — Instances 
of  the  wonderful  effects  of  speech — Considerations  re- 
specting its  honourable  character  and  extensive  utility-  •  •      9 

CHAPTER  II. 
Early  attention  bestowed  on  the  origin  of  language — The 
theory  of  one  existing  parent  language — Diversity  of  opi- 
nion as  to  the  one — The  revival  of  learning  in  Europe — 
Its  influence  on  this  question — The  comparative  study  of 
languages  a  new  branch  of  scholarship — Labourers  in 
this  department — Objects  of  their  study— Its  supposed 
bearing  on  Holy  Scripture — Present  state  of  the  question — 
The  design  of  this  inquiry    SI 

CHAPTER    III. 

Definition  of  language — Metaphorical  application  of  the 
term — Natural  signs — Symbolical  representations — Sys- 
tematic signs — The  supposed  connection  between  words 
and  ideas — Examples  supplied  by  tha  Hebrew  and  Eng- 

5 


►  CONTENTS. 

lish  languages — Radical  expressive  sounds  and  letters — 
The  object  of  language — The  origin  of  language — Ques- 
tion stated— Theory  of  its  invention — Advocates  of  this 
hypothesis — Its  absurdities — The  weight  due  to  names  as 
authorities  on  the  subject — Advantages  possessed  by  mo- 
dern over  former  writers  on  language  


CHAPTER    IV. 

Objections  to  the  theory  that  language  is  a  human  inven- 
tion— No  period  can  be  assigned  to  its  invention — If  in- 
vented, it  is  more  than  probable  that  there  would  be 
some  record  of  it — The  strong  improbability  of  men  in- 
venting it — The  relative  perfection  of  the  most  ancient 
languages — Their  independence  in  structure  of  the  ad- 
vances of  civilization — The  physical  impossibility  of  in- 
venting speech — Language  indispensable  to  some  of  the 
ends  of  man's  creation — Physical  construction  of  the  or- 
gans of  speech — Harmony  of  Divine  wisdom  and  benevo- 
lence in  the  entire  creation — The  savage  state  is  not  th» 
natural  condition  of  mankind — Causes  which  have  pro 
moted  or  retarded  social  improvement 


CHAPTER  V. 

Continuation  of  objections  to  the  invention  of  language-' 
The  theory  is  opposed  to  the  statements  of  the  sacred 
writings — Authority  and  value  of  the  Pentateuch,  or  five 
books  of  Moses— Substance  of  its  statements  on  this  sub- 
ject— Notices  of  man  when  created — In  his  abode,  employ 
ment,  social  relation,  and  religious  character — Inference 
as  to  the  possession  of  speech — Scriptural  proof  of  the 
advanced  civilization  of  the  early  patriarchs — Their  ex- 
istence as  communities  required  the  use  of  language — 
Strength  of  this  argument — Rapid  improvement  of  man- 
kind—Conclusions deduced  from  it   


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER    VI 

The  theory  of  physical  spontaneour  development  held  by 
some  advocates  of  invented  language — Statements  and 
estimate  of  this  philosophy — No  actual  case  illustrative  of 
the  theory — Impassable  gulf  between  man  and  the  infe- 
rior creatures — General  results  arrived  at  in  the  argu- 
ment— Steps  by  which  it  has  been  reached — Language  is 
Divine  in  its  origin— Explanations— Character  of  the  pri- 

"  mitive  language — Review  of  the  several  arguments  for 
this  theory — Consistency  of  the  conclusion  with  the  rea- 
sons and  facts  of  the  case  —Its  harmony  with  revelation  •  102 


CHAPTER    VII. 

One  common  language  in  the  early  patriarchal  times — Ad- 
vantages which  would  have  resulted  from  its  perpetua- 
tion—Evils and  benefits  of  a  variety  of  existing  lan- 
guages— Objection  to  the  Divine  origin  of  language  arising 
out  of  the  present  diversity,  stated  and  met — The  unity 
of  the  human  race — Declared  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
recognised  in  the  New — Illustrated  by  modern  physiologi- 
cal researches — The  unity  of  language  hence  inferred — 
Verbal  affinities  and  grammatical  resemblances  in  all 
tongues — Classification  of  languages — Family  groups — 
Indo-Germanic — Semitic — Malayian — African — American 
— Inferences  from  the  ascertained  present  state  of  lan- 
guage   115 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Additional  historical  confirmations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures — 
The  state  of  society  and  language  after  the  deluge — Con- 
fusion of  tongues  at  Babel — The  period  of  its  occurrence — 
Scripture  statement  of  the  miraculous  event— Scene  of 
the  division — Evidence  for  fixing  it  in  the  vicinity  of  Ba- 
bylon— Design  of  the  builders — Nature  of  the  confusion — 


8  CONTENTS. 

No  other  event  in  history  accounts  for  all  the  existing 
diversities  and  conformities  in  language — This  does  fully — 
Harmony  in  the  facts  and  the  testimony— Confirmation  by 
heathen  opinion  149 


CHAPTER    IX. 

State  of  society  immediately  after  the  Dispersion — The  ori- 
gin of  nations — Descendants  of  Shem — of  Ham — of  Ja- 
pheth — Correspondence  in  the  classes  of  languages  to  the 
triparte  division  of  the  human  family — Influence  of  se- 
condary causes  in  augmenting  diversities  of  tongues — De- 
teriorating process  of  languages — Means  of  its  improve- 
ment— The  influence  of  literature  on  language — Relation 
of  poetry  to  prose — Origin  of  writing  by  alphabetic  charac- 
ters— It  was  not  the  offspring  of  hieroglyphical  symbols — 
Not  invented  by  different  nations — Appears  to  have  been 
disclosed  to  Moses  in  the  writing  of  the  law — Gradually 
extended  to  other  nations — Notices  of  the  materials  em- 
ployed in  ancient  writing — Scarcity  of  books  in  the  dark 
ages — Invention  and  progress  of  printing  159 


CHAPTER    X. 

Historical  sketch  of  European  languages — The  formation  of 
modern  languages — The  English  language — Its  grammati- 
cal superiority — Its  verbal  strength  and  beauty — Ele- 
ments which  enter  largely  into  its  composition — History 
of  its  progress  and  completion — Question  of  a  universal 
language — Prospects  of  the  extension  of  the  English 
tongue — comparative  advantages  of  written  and  spoken 
language — Conclusion  179 


THE 

ORIGIN    AND    PROGRESS    OF 
LANGUAGE. 


CHAPTER   I. 


The  dignity  of  man  as  indicated  by  the  possession  of  speech— 
This  endowment  is  peculiar  to  the  human  family,  and  is  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  notes  of  birds,  or  cries  of  beasts 
— Language  indispensable  to  us  in  our  present  state— The 
wisdom  and  beneficence  displayed  in  the  construction  of 
sound — The  comprehensiveness  of  language — The  rapidity 
with  which  words  may  be  uttered— Instances  of  the  won- 
derful effects  of  speech  —  Considerations  respecting  its 
honourable  character  and  extensive  utility. 

The  tongue  is  the  glory  of  man  ;  inasmuch 
as  its  wonderful  power  of  embodying  living 
thought  in  appropriate  and  intelligible  lan- 
guage, for  the  purpose  of  communicating  it  to 
others,  distinguishes  him  from  the  brute  crea- 
tion. His  intellect  does  not  more  surely 
indicate  his  ennobled  birth  as  the  offspring  of 
God,  or  intimate  his  exalted  destiny  as  an 
immortal  being,  than  does  this  capacity  of 
expressing  his  most  abstruse  and  consecutive 
ideas  demonstrate  his  superiority  to  the  various 
orders  of  animated  creatures  by  which  he  is 
surrounded.     Communication  is  obviously  held 


10  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

between  one  mere  animal  and  another,  in  rela- 
tion to  wants  and  desires,  to  attachments  and 
to  aversions,  carried  on  partly  by  means  of 
inarticulate  sounds,  and  partly  by  motional 
signs ;  but  the  faculty  of  speech — through 
which  a  perfect  interchange  of  thought  is  ac- 
complished, and  by  which  mind  is  enabled  to 
commune  with  mind,  in  reference  to  all  that 
embraces  the  interests  of  time  and  of  eternity 
— is  reserved  to  man  alone.  It  is  the  last  seal 
of  dignity  impressed  by  Deity  upon  his  most 
favoured  earthly  creature  ;  and  proves,  even 
more  certainly  than  does  his  upright  form,  the 
glance  of  his  eye,  or  the  intelligence  of  his 
countenance,  that  he  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God. 

It  diminishes  nothing  of  the  weight  of  these 
statements,  that  we  find  some  few  of  the  fea- 
thered tribes  capable,  after  much  instruction, 
of  imitating  the  human  voice,  because  their 
attainments  in  this  respect  are  very  limited  and 
imperfect,  and  leave  all  their  attempts  at  an 
immeasurable  and  unmistakeable  distance  from 
the  perfect  exercise  of  articulation.  And  not 
only  so  ;  but  there  is,  we  think,  according  to 
the  expressed  opinion  of  some  anatomists,  an 
essential  imperfection  in  the  organs  of  utter- 
ance of  all  irrational  animals,  which  forbids  the 
modulations  required  by  rational  speech,  though 
they  are  well  fitted  for  the  utterance  of  long  or 
continued  sounds.  Once,  indeed,  there  was  an 
exception  to  this  rule,  when  the  Lord  opened 
the  mouth  of  the  ass  on  which  Balaam  rode, 
and,  by  this  wondrous  instrumentality,  saved 


OF  LANGUAGE.  1  1 

the  infatuated  and  guilty  man  from  imperilling 
destruction,  as  "  the  dumb  ass  speaking  -with 
man's  voice,  forbade  the  madness  of  the  pro- 
phet." This,  however,  was  a  miracle,  an  ex- 
traordinary interposition  of  the  power  of  God, 
who  made  man's  mouth,  and  who,  for  the 
accomplishment  of  his  own  glorious  purposes, 
imparted  for  a  season  that  capacity  to  a  brute, 
which  otherwise  exclusively  belonged  to  man. 
Out  of  this  fact,  probably,  arose  the  legendary 
heathen  tales  of  the  ass  of  Bacchus,  the  horses 
of  Achilles,  and  the  bull  of  Europa,  all  of  which 
are  reported  to  have  spoken.  Heathenism — 
unwilling  to  come  behind  the  religion  of  the 
Bible,  in  anything  which  might  appear  to 
accredit  its  falsehoods — has  invented  imitations 
of  the  genuine  miracles  recorded  in  Scripture, 
and  has  oftentimes,  as  in  this  instance,  sought 
to  establish  its  erroneous  doctrines  and  prac- 
tices by  fabulous  lying  wonders.  But  the 
imitation  here  is  palpable,  for  the  fact  is  un- 
questioned and  unquestionable,  that  the  case 
narrated  in  the  Bible  is  unique,  and  thus  by  its 
miraculous  character  it  serves  to  establish  the 
constancy  of  nature  to  the  law  under  which  the 
Creator  holds  it. 

From  observation,  we  are  justified  in  con- 
cluding, that  the  most  sagacious  of  the  inferior 
creatures  are  incapable  of  attaching  a  meaning 
to  a  general  term.  "  Some  of  them  learn  to 
articulate  sounds  by  imitation,  but  they  under- 
stand not  the  words  they  use  as  expressions  of 
thought,  any  more  than  the  clever  puppets  of 
Professor  Wheatstone,  when  they  give  us,  me- 


12  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

chanically,  some  rudimentary  sounds  of  speech, 
like  the  half-articulate  babblings  of  a  little 
child.  The  chattering  of  a  parrot,  and  the 
whistling  tunes  of  a  bullfinch,  are  beautiful 
instances  of  animal  imitation ;  but  the  one  bird 
no  more  comprehends  the  abstractions  of  lan- 
guage than  the  other  does  the  principles  of 
music."  Words  descriptive  of  character  are 
indiscriminately  applied  by  parrots,  but  the 
ideas  they  represent  are  incomprehensible, 
except  by  beings  endowed  with  reason  and  a 
moral  faculty.  Throughout  the  whole  animal 
kingdom  there  is  no  proof  that  a  single  noise 
expresses  a  thought,  an  abstraction,  or  a  gene- 
ralization, which  is  a  property  characterizing 
the  language  of  man.  To  him  alone,  in  this 
lower  world,  belongs  the  power  of  classifying 
objects,  which  in  some  respects  resemble,  and 
in  others  differ  from  each  other,  and  of  an- 
alysing and  decompounding  the  various  objects 
of  thought ;  and  to  him  is  confined  the  privilege 
of  describing  by  distinctive  terms  and  appro- 
priate phraseology  the  things  he  thus  compre- 
hends. 

In  other  worlds  there  may  possibly  be  found 
intelligent  beings  who  need  no  such  medium  of 
communication  as  language.  Thoughts  may 
be  conveyed  through  their  ranks  as  with 
lightning  rapidity,  without  waiting  the  slower 
explanation  even  of  winged  words  ;  and  we, 
when  freed  from  the  imperfections  of  our  pre- 
sent state,  having  laid  aside  the  garments  of 
mortality,  may  rise  to  the  enjoyment  of  equal 
freedom  of  spiritual  intercourse.     To  us,  how- 


OF  LANGUAGE.  13 

ever,  as  intelligent  and  social  creatures,  dwell- 
ing in  the  house  of  an  earthly  tabernacle,  the 
endowment  of  speech  is  not  only  an  adornment, 
but  an  indispensable  appendage  of  our  com- 
fortable and  useful  existence.  Without  going 
the  entire  length  of  those  philosophers  who — 
with  Plato,  Wollaston,  Herder,  and  Lavoisier — 
contend  that  language  is  the  indispensable 
instrument  of  thought,  and  that  reason  cannot 
be  exercised  without  it,  because  men  think 
through  the  medium  of  words — we  may,  by  an 
appeal  to  our  consciousness,  learn  that  much  of 
our  thinking  is  conducted  by  mental  speech. 
It  is,  likewise  remarkable,  that  not  only  in  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks,  but  also  in  the 
phraseology  of  the  New  Testament,  reason  and 
language  are  denominated  by  one  and  the  same 
term,  logos,  a  word.  It  does  not,  however,  ap- 
pear that  all  thought  is  dependent  upon  the  aid  of 
language.  Abstract  terms  are  necessary  for  con- 
veying an  abstract  thought  to  the  mind  ;  w7hile 
the  names  of  things  or  deeds  are  not  necessary 
to  thought  respecting  them.  We  do  not,  with 
Dugald  Stewart,  for  a  moment  hesitate  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  on  the  possibility  of  God  so 
forming  us,  that  we  might  have  been  capable 
of  reasoning  concerning  classes  of  objects  with- 
out the  use  of  signs,  as  He,  who  made  man  by 
his  wonder-working  power,  could  employ  an 
infinite  variety  of  methods  of  teaching  him 
wisdom ;  but  we  do  hold,  with  that  gifted  writer, 
that  man,  as  now  constituted,  "  is  not  such  a 
being."* 
*  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind,  vol.  i.  chap.  iv.  sec.  3. 


14  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

The  gift  of  speech  thus  appears  to  be  an 
indispensable  instrument  of  accomplishing  the 
ends  of  our  earthly  existence,  in  reference  to 
society  at  large  ;  and  while  exalting  us  to  a 
high  order  of  privilege,  it  clearly  involves  cor- 
responding responsibility.  Its  influence  on  the 
improvement  of  our  own  minds  and  hearts  is  of 
unspeakable  importance,  while  its  bearing  on 
the  advancement  of  civilization  and  religion  in 
the  earth  is  incalculable.  It  is  the  great  bond 
of  social  life,  the  channel  of  intellectual  and 
Christian  intercourse  with  our  fellow-men,  and 
a  powerful  instrument  for  good  or  for  evil,  as  it 
is  wisely  or  otherwise  employed.  It  vastly 
increases  the  perfection  of  our  individual  na- 
ture, changing  us  from  solitary  beings  to 
persons  fitted  for  the  highest  and  holiest  com- 
munion. By  its  possession  we  have,  as  it  were, 
bestowed  upon  us  a  duplicate  and  multipliable 
existence,  inasmuch  as  we  are  enabled  to 
enrich  others  with  our  own  intellectual  stores, 
and  that,  too,  without  impoverishing  ourselves. 
Indeed,  so  far  from  diminishing  our  mental 
treasures,  this  circulation,  by  the  aid  of  speech, 
increases  their  value ;  for  to  this  interchange  and 
transmission  of  thought,  by  vocal  utterances, 
we  are  greatly  indebted  for  the  improvement 
of  thought  itself.  It  has  been  gracefully  and 
truthfully  said  by  one  of  our  poets : — 


"  Thoughts  shut  up  want  air, 
And  spoil,  like  bales  unopened  to  the  sun  ; 
Had  thought  been  all,  sweet  speech  had  been  denied : 
Speech  ventilates  our  intellectual  fire, 
Speech  burnishes  our  mental  magazine, 
Brightens  for  ornament  and  whets  for  use." 


OF  LANGUAGE.  15 

Supposing  that  the  human  family  had  not 
been  endowed  with  this  power  of  communi- 
cating their  ideas  and  sensations  to  each  other, 
reason  itself,  if  not  otherwise  affected  by  its 
absence,  would  have  proved  comparatively  an 
unavailing  power,  because  one  great  end  of  its 
possession  would  have  been  defeated.  In  the 
absence  of  speech,  we  should  feel  ourselves  to 
be  imprisoned,  even  while  we  were  at  large  ; 
we  should  be  solitary  in  the  midst  of  our  com- 
panions and  equals ;  and,  to  us,  the  most  intel- 
lectual assembly  would  prove  a  perfect  blank. 
Indeed,  on  this  supposition,  we  should  soon  be 
placed  amidst  the  wreck  of  society ;  forasmuch 
as  we  believe  human  beings  could  not  long  be 
held  in  amicable  relation  to  each  other  without 
the  attractive  and  binding  aid  of  vocal  language, 
unless  the  Creator  were  to  endow  us  with  other 
modes  of  conveying  thought  and  feeling,  which 
should  prove  equivalent  to,  and  a  substitute 
for,  the  appointed  instrumentality  of  which  we 
speak.  If  it  should  be  thought  by  any  reader 
that  these  benefits  are  stated  too  strongly,  and 
that  social  intercourse  is  not  in  reality  so 
entirely  dependent  upon  speech  as  we  have 
represented — inasmuch  as  the  dumb  have  signs 
which  to  a  great  extent  supply  its  wants — let  it 
be  remembered  that  these  signs  would  not  have 
existed  but  for  speech.  They  were  invented, 
not  by  the  dumb,  but  by  persons  more  favour- 
ably situated,  being  in  the  possession  of  the 
power  of  language,  by  which  they  were  aided 
in  the  construction  of  signs  to  compensate,  in 
some  degree,  for  the  absence  of  speech  in  others. 


1  6  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

The  human  voice  is  so  constituted,  by  the 
Divine  Author  of  our  being,  as  to  be  suscept- 
ible of  articulate  modulations  in  an  almost  end- 
less variety  ;  and  no  other  conformation  of  the 
mouth  than  'that  given  to  man  can  admit,  so 
far  as  we  can  perceive,  of  the  perfect  articu- 
lation of  which  he  is  capable.  The  wisdom 
and  beneficence  of  our  Heavenly  Father  are 
strikingly  displayed  in  that  adjustment  of  the 
powers  of  speech,  by  which,  ideas  being 
attached  to  sounds,  and  the  mind  rendered 
master  of  these  sounds,  we  are  enabled  to 
employ  them  at  will  for  the  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing or  imparting  information.  And  equally 
wonderful  is  the  fact,  that  the  organs  of  the 
voice  are  so  constructed  as  to  be  exactly  adapted 
to  the  properties  of  the  atmosphere  through 
which  its  sounds  are  conveyed,  while  the  undu- 
lations excited  by  vocal  utterances  are  carried 
to  the  ear  of  the  listener,  whose  organs  of  hear- 
ing are  fitted  to  receive  with  pleasure  the 
sounds  conveyed  :  we  say  with  pleasure, 
because,  without  such  an  arrangement,  men, 
while  capable  of  hearing,  would  be  unwilling  to 
employ  this  power.  On  the  supposition  that 
the  sense  of  hearing  were  disproportionately 
acute,  mankind  would  be  reduced  to  a  miser- 
able condition :  "  What  whisper  would  be  low 
enough  but  many  could  overhear  it?  What 
affairs  that  most  require  it,  could  be  transacted 
with  secrecy  ?  And  whither  could  we  retire 
from  perpetual  humming  and  buzzing  ?  Every 
breath  of  wind  would  incommode  and  disturb 
us.     We  should  have  no  quiet  nor  sleep  in  the 


OF  LANGUAGE.  17 

silentest  nights  and  most  solitary  places ;  and 
we  must  inevitably  be  struck  dead,  or  deaf, 
with  the  noise  of  a  clap  of  thunder."* 

Another  beautiful  illustration  of  the  wisdom 
and  goodness  of  our  Creator  is  furnished  in  the 
power  of  the  human  voice  to  assist  in  the 
mutual  recognition  of  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances. Through  the  visual  organs  we  recog- 
nize well-known  persons  by  their  countenance, 
their  form,  or  their  peculiar  gait,  when  present 
with  us,  even  in  a  crowd.  By  their  hand- 
writing our  absent  friends  are  recognized,  and 
rarely  are  we  imposed  upon  by  the  imitation  of 
a  hand  with  which  we  are  familiar.  So  the 
peculiar  tones  of  a  voice  enable  us  to  recog- 
nize a  friend  in  darkness ;  and  this  power  has 
often  proved  of  signal  advantage  in  the  midst 
of  scenes  of  confusion  and  danger.  Without 
this  distinguishing  power  of  the  human  voice, 
many  and  great  disadvantages  would  be  felt. 
It  was  possibly  in  allusion  to  this  beautiful 
arrangement  that  the  Saviour  said,  "  My  sheep 
hear  my  voice,  and  follow  me  ;  but  a  stranger 
will  they  not  follow,  for  they  know  not  the 
voice  of  strangers." 

The  mere  utterance  of  sounds  would  be  of 
no  value  in  the  commerce  of  social  intercourse, 
except  a  definite  meaning  were  attached  to 
each  sound,  as  in  the  midst  of  voices  we  should 
realize  the  state  graphically  described  by  the 
apostle  Paul :  "  If  I  know  not  the  meaning  of 
the  voice,  I  shall  be  unto  him  that  speaketh  a 


Bentley's  Confutation  of  Atheism,  p.  98. 

2* 


18  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

barbarian,  and  he  that  speaketh  shall  be  a 
barbarian  unto  me."  The  same  inspired  writer 
tells  us,  that  "  there  are  many  kinds  of  voices  in 
the  world,  and  none  of  them  is  without  signifi- 
cation;" for  the  common  intelligence  of  men, 
and  their  mutual  acquaintance  with  a  given 
language,  enable  them  to  comprehend  the  senti- 
ments announced  by  a  lengthened  speech,  and 
to  interpret  the  meaning  of  each  separate  word, 
with  undoubted  precision.  Nor  is  this  arrange- 
ment limited,  as  it  might  have  been,  to  the 
utterance,  by  slow  and  painful  efforts,  of  words 
prompted  by  the  ordinary  or  more  pressing 
wants  of  our  nature ;  for  the  power  of  speech  is 
so  vast  and  varied,  as  to  be  available  to  the 
enunciation  of  every  supposable  subject  of 
human  opinion  and  interest  ;  while  the  glance 
of  the  eye,  or  the  general  expression  of  the 
countenance,  adds  emphasis  to  articulated  lan- 
guage, and,  in  certain  exigencies  of  life  and 
death,  conveys  emotions  which  are  too  over- 
whelming for  vocal  utterance. 

The  rapidity  of  speech  is  so  great  as  usually 
to  keep  pace  with  our  mental  conceptions  and 
desires,  when  these  are  indulged  under  the 
government  of  enlightened  reason,  and  to  meet 
the  capability  of  comprehension  on  the  part  of 
those  who  are  addressed.  A  public  speaker, 
who  delivers  himself  with  rapidity,  may  pro- 
nounce from  seven  thousand  to  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  words  in  an  hour.  The  medium 
number  allows  of  the  utterance  of  a  hundred 
and  twenty  words  in  a  minute,  or  two  in  every 
second.     This  computation,  made   by  an   in- 


OF  LANGUAGE.  19 

genious  man  and  a  scholar,*  relates  to  the 
English  language,  and  would  slightly  differ  in 
reference  to  other  tongues,  according  to  the 
comparative  increased  or  diminished  facility 
with  which  they  may  be  spoken.  Numerous, 
however,  as  may  be  the  words  poured  forth  in 
a  limited  space  of  time,  the  modulations  of  the 
human  voice  which  utters  them  may  be  even 
more  numerous,  and  often  exceed  the  words 
themselves.  These  may  inspire  the  heart  with 
terror,  and  then  awaken  hope — may  electrify 
the  soul  through  all  its  powers,  and  then  sus- 
pend its  capabilities  of  action — may  bow  down 
the  spirit  with  overwhelming  sorrow,  and  then 
transport  it  with  unutterable  joy. 

It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  over-estimate  the  moral  influence  of  this 
astonishing  faculty,  for  the  use  of  which  we 
should  be  daily  grateful  to  God,  "  in  whom 
we  live,  and  move,  and  have  ^ur  being."  Of  all 
created  power,  the  power  of  opinion  is  the  most 
influential  in  its  operation  on  the  character  and 
destiny  of  men ;  and  its  influence  is  vastly 
greater  when  it  falls  on  the  ear  with  a  graceful 
utterance  and  fervent  eloquence,  than  when  it 
is  simply  presented  to  the  eye.  The  living 
voice  comes  in  to  the  aid  of  the  sentiment  it 
convey? ,  which  thus  acts  with  augmented 
efficiency  in  moulding  the  faith,  and  in  forming 
the  character  of  communities  ;  while  its  effects 
are  equally  decisive  in  the  creation  of  indivi- 
dual purposes,  and  the  regulation  of  personal 
'onduct.  We  may  affirm,  without  the  fear  of 
*  The  late  Lord  Sheffield. 


20  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

successful  contradiction,  that  greater  exploits 
have  been  achieved  by  the  tongue  than  by  the 
sword,  and  by  the  use  of  language  than  by  the 
power  of  armies.  The  pages  of  history  furnish 
numerous  illustrations  of  the  exciting  and  sub- 
duing power  of  eloquent  and  wise  discourse, 
as  actually  realizing  the  import  of  that  legend- 
ary tale,  which  poetically  represents  Orpheus 
taming  the  most  ferocious  animals,  and  making 
the  forest  dance  in  concert  to  his  lyre.  The 
eloquence  of  Demosthenes  roused  the  Athenians 
against  Philip ;  the  orations  of  Cicero  saved  his 
country  from  threatened  calamities  ;  the  earnest 
tones  of  Peter,  a  solitary  hermit,  filled  Europe 
with  phrensied  emotion,  and  called  forth  the 
flower  of  its  population  to  struggle  and  to 
perish  in  the  crusades.  In  more  recent  times, 
the  voice  of  Luther  shook  the  Vatican,  and 
emancipated  the  Protestant  part  of  Europe  from 
the  dominion  of  Papal  Rome.  "  Life  and  death 
are  still  in  the  power  of  the  tongue."  At  the 
utterance  of  the  name  of  Austerlitz  or  Marengo 
thousands  have  rushed  to  a  forlorn  hope,  and 
met  a  premature  death  on  the  field  of  conflict. 

Daily  experience  and  observation  instruct  us 
in  the  power  of  vocal  language  to  decide  the 
judgment  and  to  move  the  affections.  It  has 
been  our  happiness,  occasionally,  to  listen  to 
the  melody  of  the  human  voice,  announcing 
great  commanding  truths,  till  we  have  been 
alternately  melted  to  pity,  and  transported  to 
the  mountain  tops  of  joy.  Carried  away  with 
the  earnest,  impassioned  utterances  of  the 
speaker,  we  have  hung  upon  every  word,  and 


OF  LANGUAGE.  21 

almost  wislied  that  the  music  of  their  intona- 
tions could  flow  on  for  ever.  This  exquisite 
delight  is  not  peculiar  to  a  select  few,  for  it  is 
evidently  shared  by  multitudes  around  us. 
Witness  the  deep,  delighted  anxiety  with 
which  the  crowds  who,  on  great  occasions,  fill 
our  halls  of  justice,  listen  to  the  eloquent 
appeals,  "  in  thoughts  that  breathe,  and  words 
that  burn,"  which  are  put  forth  by  gifted 
counsel,  on  either  side,  when  life  and  death 
appear  trembling  in  the  balance,  and  wait  to  be 
decided  by  the  poAver  of  the  tongue.  With 
what  unutterable  emotions  have  speeches  been 
listened  to  in  the  senate  of  our  country,  when 
adorned  with  the  brilliancy  which  distinguished 
the  mind  of  Fox  —  when  graced  with  the 
earnest,  simple  benevolence  of  Wilberforce — 
when  animated  with  the  glowing  fire  of  Cur- 
ran — or  when  uttered  with  the  dazzling  elo- 
quence of  Chatham !  With  what  breathless 
attention  and  absorbing  interest  will  an  au- 
ditory listen  to  the  discourses  of  an  eloquent 
preacher,  who,  after  the  example  of  that  prince 
of  preachers,  king  Solomon,  seeks  "  to  find  out 
acceptable  Avords  !"  His  doctrine  drops  as  the 
rain,  and  his  speech  distils  as  the  deA\\  With 
the  law  of  kindness  on  his  lips,  and  the  love  of 
the  Saviour  in  his  heart,  he  is  enabled  to  utter 
words  in  season — whether  of  warning  or  of 
encouragement,  of  terror  or  of  consolation — the 
full  effect  of  which  can  never  be  comprehended 
but  amidst  the  disclosures  of  eternity.  The 
pathetic,  subduing  eloquence  of  Whitfield 
moved,  not  only  the  illiterate  multitude,  but 


22  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  polished  and  educated  nobles  of  the  land, 
who  were  led  to  admire  the  doctrinal  state- 
ments, or  to  endure  the  practical  appeals  of  the 
preacher,  for  the  sake  of  the  way  in  which,  like 
Apollos,  he  expounded  the  Scriptures. 

True  it  is  that  much  of  the  effect  of  public 
6peaking-  may,  with  propriety,  be  attributed  to 
the  influence  of  an  acquired  art,  and  to  a  care- 
ful attention  to  those  rules  which  are  laid  down 
for  the  proper  management  of  the  voice.  But 
no  art  can  be  a  substitute  for  nature,  and  it 
may  be  more  than  a  conjecture  that  the  rules 
of  oratory  are  little  more  than  a  classification 
and  arrangement,  such  as  nature  has  indicated 
should  control  the  voice  and  gesture  when  we 
wish  to  impress  our  fellow-men.  There  is, 
doubtless,  a  great  difference  between  the  voice 
of  an  untutored  peasant,  who  never  thought  of 
the  potency  residing  in  this  faculty,  and  who, 
consequently,  addresses  his  equals  in  loud  and 
discordant  tones,  and  that  of  the  man  who, 
with  an  educated  mind  and  cultivated  taste, 
understands  and  uses  his  voice,  as  Handel  un- 
derstood and  employed  the  organ  ;  and  who, 
whether  he  thinks  of  it  or  not,  sways  those  who 
hear  him  as  with  the  rod  of  a  magician.  Some 
of  the  most  surprising  effects  of  language  are, 
however,  found  in  the  history  of  savage  life. 
The  eloquence  of  the  various  Indian  tribes  of 
North  America  has  often  been  described  by 
travellers  as  most  wonderful.  Sir  Francis 
Head,  in  narrating  the  proceedings  of  a  council 
of  Red  Indians  which  he  attended  in  his  ca- 
pacity of  governor    of  Upper    Canada,  says: 


OF  LANGUAGE.  23 

u  Nothing  can  be .  more  interesting,  or  offer  to 
the  civilized  world  a  more  useful  lesson,  than 
the  manner  in  which  the  red  aborigines  oi 
America,  without  ever  interrupting  each  other, 
conduct  their  councils.  The  calm  dignity  of 
their  demeanour — the  scientific  manner  in  which 
they  progressively  construct  the  frame-work  of 
whatever  subject  they  undertake  to  explain— 
the  sound  argument  by  which  they  connect,  as 
well  as  support  it — and  the  beautiful  wild 
flowers  of  eloquence  with  which  they  adorn 
every  portion  of  the  moral  architecture  they 
are  constructing — form  altogether  an  exhibition 
of  grave  interest ;  and  yet  these  orators  are 
men  whose  lips  and  gums  are,  while  they  are 
speaking,  black  from  the  wild  berries  on  which 
they  subsist."*  In  more  civilized  communi- 
ties, without  any  pretensions  to  oratorical  skill, 
a  few  earnest,  straightforward  sentences  have 
brought  the  minds  of  a  multitude  of  hearers 
into  agreement  and  co-operation  with  that  of 
the  speaker. 

We  are  not  shut  up  to  the  forum,  to  the 
council,  or  to  the  pulpit,  for  illustrations  of  the 
extraordinary  effects  produced  by  articulate 
speech,  for  we  meet  with  its  wonder-working 
power  in  the  most  retired  scenes  of  life.  Of  a 
word  fitly  spoken  it  may  be  said,  "  How  good 
is  it !"  Words  of  warning  and  admonition  fall 
upon  the  ears,  and  sink  into  the  hearts  of  men, 
by  which  souls  are  saved  from  death.  Words 
of  kindness  cheer  the  labourer  and  the  dis- 
couraged, who  toil  in  the  humbler  departments 
*  The  Emigrant,  p.  147. 


24  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

of  human  exertion.  The  utterances  of  con- 
solation, derived  from  the  gospel,  are  like  a 
balm  to  heal  the  wounded  minds,  and  to  bind 
up  the  broken  hearts  of  those  who  mourn  for 
sin,  or  are  tried  by  suffering  in  this  dark, 
bleak  world.  The  melody  of  speech,  whisper- 
ing words  of  comfort  to  the  departing  Christian, 
is  frequently  the  last  sound  falling  on  the  spirit 
before  it  is  welcomed  by  angel  voices  and  by 
the  Son  of  God  himself  into  everlasting  habit- 
ations. 

It  is  one  of  the  crowning  honours  conferred 
upon  speech,  that  God  has  employed  it  as  a 
medium  of  communicating  his  revealed  will. 
"  He  spake  in  times  past  to  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets."  In  sounds  intelligible  to  mortal 
ears,  the  voice  of  God  was  heard  by  Moses, 
while  the  many  thousands  of  Israel  assembled 
around  the  mount  of  Sinai  said  to  the  pro- 
phet, "  Speak  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  hear: 
but  let  not  God  speak  with  us,  lest  we  die." 
That  voice  was  often  heard  by  inspired  and 
sainted  men  under  the  Old  Testament  eco- 
nomy. Subsequently  it  spake  out  of  the  cloud, 
at  the  Jordan  and  on  Tabor,  and  testified  to 
the  Sonship  of  the  Redeemer,  and  to  the  Divine 
approbation  of  His  conduct  who  was  "the 
brightness  of  the  Father's  glory." 

And  the  Saviour,  who  was  in  all  respects 
made  like  unto  his  brethren,  not  only  used  the 
language  of  the  country  in  which  he  was  born  for 
social  and  domestic  fellowship,  but  employed  it 
as  the  medium  of  pouring  instruction  on  the  ears 
of  people  who  were  very  attentive  to  hear  him. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  25 

As  in  all  things  lie  had  the  pre-eminence,  so  as 
a  preacher  of  righteousness  he  was  unrivalled. 
The  awful  glories  of  authority,  supreme  and 
overwhelming,  mingled  with  his  words  as  they 
were  uttered  with  the  majesty  of  Deity,  and 
subdued  the  minds  of  his  hearers,  who  "  were 
astonished  at  his  doctrine,"  and  said,  "Never 
man  spake  like  this  man."  The  wisdom  of  his 
preaching  was  beautifully  attractive.  He  spoke 
of  all  beings  and  worlds,  as  one  who  was  alike 
familiar  with  them  all.  With  exquisite  simpli- 
city he  brought  down  the  mysteries  of  his 
kingdom  to  the  comprehension  of  the  meanest 
minds,  and  illustrated  the  glories  of  the  hea- 
venly world  by  the  lowliest  figures  derived  from 
the  things  of  earth  and  time,  so  that  the  com- 
mon people  heard  him  gladly.  With  unexampled 
tenderness  he  reproved  and  instructed,  cheered 
and  animated,  those  who  followed  in  his  train 
and  listened  to  his  words.  Whether  he  spoke 
to  his  disciples,  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  on 
the  lake  of  Galilee,  subduing  their  fears  with 
the  announcement,  "It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid" — 
whether,  in  the  hearing  of  parents  forbidden  to 
bring  their  little  ones  to  receive  his  blessing,  he 
said,  "  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto 
me" — or  whether,  in  tones  of  lamentation,  he 
poured  out  his  grief  over  the  devoted  city,  or  in 
language  of  supplication  besought  his  Father 
for  his  destroyers — we  see  how  true  is  the  repre- 
sentation that  "grace  was  poured  into  his  lips," 
and  wonder  at  the  kindness  with  which  he  con- 
veyed his  messages  of  mercy  to  the  chi 
of  men! 


26  THE  ORIGIN  AXD  PROGRESS 

Now,  forasmuch  as  it  is  unquestionably  the 
glory  of  our  common  nature  that  the  Son  of 
God  took  it  into  intimate  union  with  his  own, 
so  it  is  the  glory  of  human  speech  that  he 
employed  it  in  teaching  mankind  the  way  of 
salvation.  By  many  it  is  believed  that  our 
Lord  used  the  Syro-Chaldaic  language;  but, 
supposing  that  he  spoke  generally,  as  we  incline 
to  think  he  probably  did,  in  Greek,  and  in 
Aramaic  occasionally,"*  this  circumstance  con- 
fers greater  dignity  on  the  Hellenic  language 
than  do  the  writings  of  Plato  and  Homer.  He 
who  knew  what  was  in  man,  commanded  the 
glad  tidings  of  salvation  to  be  proclaimed  in  all 
the  world  by  the  living  voice  ;  and  now,  after 
the  lapse  of  eighteen  hundred  years,  he  conti- 
nues to  employ  it  as  the  great  instrument  of 
regenerating  men,  and  of  training  them  up  for 
a  nobler  state  of  being.  It  still  "pleases  God 
by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  them 
that  believe." 

In  every  point  of  view  in  which  it  occurs  to 
us  to  consider  the  influence  of  human  speech,  it 
appears  to  be  of  great  value.  Its  bearing  on 
personal  happiness  and  relative  enjoyment  is 
immediate  and  decided.  Its  importance  to 
domestic  comfort  and  social  intercourse  is  be- 
yond a  doubt.  As  an  agent  for  advancing 
pure  morality  and  Scriptural  piety  its  benefi- 
cent power  is  vast  and  unquestionable.    It  may 

*  Persons  who  take  an  interest  in  the  question  involved  in 
this  supposition  may  see  the  subject  fully  argued  out  in  the 
essay  ofD.  Uiodati,  entitled,  "De  Christo  Greece  Loquente :H 
republished,  with  a  learned  preface,  by  the  ReY.  Dr.  Dobbin* 
.London.  1K43. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  27 

well  excite  our  deepest  regret  that  this  mighty 
instrument  of  thought  and  will  has  been  so 
frequently  wielded  by  the  hand  of  weakness 
and  wickedness — of  malignity  and  profanity. 
"  Therewith,"  says  an  inspired  apostle,  "  bless 
we  God,  even  the  Father,  and  therewith  curse 
we  men."  A  most  powerful  reason  is  furnished 
for  the  right  application  of  this  faculty  by  the 
declarations  of  the  great  Teacher  of  mankind, 
"  By  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by 
thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned." — "  And  I 
say  unto  you,  That  for  every  idle  word  that  men 
speak,  they  shall  give  account." 

It  imparts  peculiar  value  to  language  that 
while  it  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  appropriate 
medium  of  conveying  religious  truth  and  con- 
solation to  the  mind,  it  becomes,  in  turn,  the 
channel  of  utterance  for  the  devotional  feelings 
of  the  regenerated  heart,  whose  daily  fellowship 
is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son,  Jesus 
Christ.  When  God,  by  the  power  of  his  Spirit, 
and  by  the  agency  of  his  word,  whether  read 
or  preached,  is  pleased  to  awaken  in  the  sinful 
mind  of  any  individual  of  the  human  family  a 
conviction  of  its  guilt  and  demerit,  its  unwor- 
thiness  and  exposure  to  final  condemnation,  the 
anxiety  thus  produced  vents  itself  usually  in  the 
vocal  inquiry,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  " 
or  prompts  the  utterance  of  the  prayer,  "  God 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  !"  And  when  our 
heavenly  Father,  who  taketh  no  pleasure  in  the 
death  of  the  wicked,  but  welcomes  the  returning 
prodigal  to  his  heart  and  home,  imparts  to  the 
contrite  spirit  that  faith  in  Christ  by  which  the 


28  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ungodly  are  justified,  and  blots  out  as  a  cloud, 
and  as  a  thick  cloud,  by  the  sunbeam  of  his 
love,  the  aggravated  iniquities  of  numerous 
years,  the  pardoned  believer  joyfully  exclaims, 
"  O  Lord,  I  will  praise  thee ;  though  thou  wast 
angry  with  me,  thine  anger  is  turned  away,  and 
thou  comfortest  me."  Thus,  while  "  with  the 
heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness,  with 
the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation." 
In  the  subsequent  exercises  of  the  Christian 
life,  speech  is  sanctified  and  employed  for  noble 
ends.  The  believer  may  use  it,  as  he  invites 
others,  in  the  language  of  the  psalmist,  to  come 
and  hear  him  declare  what  great  things  God 
"has  done  for  his  soul."  His  secret  communion 
with  the  Father  of  his  spirit  from  day  to  day  is 
aided  or  carried  on  by  the  words  of  his  lips.  In 
the  closet,  the  tones  of  his  own  voice  affect  his 
heart,  and  help  it  to  rise  to  the  fellowship  of 
the  skies,  while  he  pours  out  mingled  expressions 
of  sorrow  and  joy,  of  fear  and  hope.  In  social 
devotional  exercises,  speech  is  employed  as  the 
vehicle  of  adoration  and  gratitude,  of  confession 
and  prayer,  even  while  we  worship  in  spirit  and 
truth  the  God  of  our  salvation.  On  the  couch 
where  parting  life  is  laid,  the  Christian  employs 
the  failing  power  of  speech,  as  it  flows  from  the 
tongue,  in  part  paralysed  by  the  hand  ot  death, 
to  breathe  out  the  prayer,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit ;"  and  then  goes  up  to  hear  the 
Saviour",  voice,  uttering  the  plaudit,  "Well 
done,  g,  _  d  and  faithful  servant ;  enter  thou  into 
the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

It  is  cheering  to  remember  that  in  this  world 


OF  LANGUAGE.  29 

of  ignorance  and  guilt,  the  melody  of  human 
speech  is  hourly  flowing  from  countless  lips  in 
praise  and  prayer.  Infant  voices  proclaim  the 
honours  of  the  Redeemer,  the  voice  of  thanks- 
giving and  rejoicing  is  in  the  tabernacles  of  the 
righteous,  and  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  sounds 
of  salvation  are  heard,  ascribing  glory  to  the 
Righteous  One.  The  visions  of  prophecy  reveal 
to  us  the  coming  of  a  period  when  from  every 
land,  and  in  every  tongue,  a  loud  united  voice 
shall  be  heard  ascribing,  "  Blessing  and  honour, 
and  glory  and  power  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon 
the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever."  May 
the  Lord  hasten  it  in  his  time ! 

These  somewhat  extended  references  to  the 
superlative  value  of  language  are  made  with  a 
view  to  awaken  interest  in  the  subject  of  this 
essay,  and  to  engage  the  attention  of  the  reader 
m  an  investigation  of  the  origin  and  history  of 
an  endowment  of  the  human  race  of  the  highest 
order.  Its  advantages  are  confined  to  no  one 
^lass  of  the  community,  to  no  one  age  or  clime, 
but  are  extended  to  the  whole  family  of  man. 
Even  the  comparatively  few  persons  who,  in  con- 
sequence of  having  been  born  deaf  and  dumb, 
have  never  heard  the  music  of  speech,  nor  have 
ever  been  permitted  to  exercise  its  organs,  owe 
much  of  their  comfort  and  security  to  its  capa- 
bilities, as  employed  by  their  more  favoured 
brethren  of  mankind.  With  these  rare  excep- 
tions, individuals  of  every  rank  and  station,  of 
every  age  and  character,  can  avail  themselves 
of  the  full  advantages  of  this  boon.  And  while 
we  are  individually  realising  all  the  benefits 


30  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

which  flow  from  it  as  the  instrument  of  mental 
interchanges  with  our  fellow-creatures,  we  may 
consecrate  it  to  higher  purposes,  while  in 
appropriate  phrase,  adapted  to  move  our  own 
minds,  we  address  the  great  Author  of  our 
being  as  dependent  on  his  goodness  and  mercy ; 
and  offer  vocal  thanksgiving  to  him,  who  has 
made  us  rational  and  immortal  creatures,  capa- 
ble of  worshipping  and  of  loving  him  for  ever. 
The  blessing  of  speech  is  like  the  light  ot 
heaven,  or  the  common  air,  or  the  running 
streams,  the  unmonopolised  heritage  of  man  ; 
and,  like  these  ordinary  advantages,  it  is  bue 
too  often  undervalued,  because  of  its  c<  .//v.on- 


OF  LANGUAGE.  31 


CHAPTER    II. 

Early  attention  bestowed  on  the  origin  of  language— The 
theory  of  one  existing  parent  language— Diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  the  one — The  revival  of  learning  in  Europe 
—Its  influence  on  this  question — The  comparative  study 
of  languages  a  new  branch  of  scholarship— Labourers  in 
this  department— Objects  of  their  study— Its  supposed 
bearing:  on  Holy  Scripture — Present  state  of  the  ques- 
tion—The design  of  this  inquiry. 

It  may  be  readily  imagined  that  the  subject  of 
language,  being  one  of  such  deep  and  universal 
interest,  early  and  extensively  engaged  the 
attention  of  mankind,  and  led  to  various  in- 
quiries into  its  origin,  and  to  the  steps  by 
which  it  arrived  at  its  existing  form  amongst 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  This  has  evidently 
been  the  case,  inasmuch  as  we  know  that  dis- 
tinguished writers,  both  ancient  and  modern, 
have  pursued  the  investigation,  and  have  advo- 
cated, with  more  or  less  of  ardour  and  success, 
different  and  opposing  theories.  Very  many  of 
the  researches,  however,  even  of  learned  men 
in  former  times,  have  proved  themselves  to  be 
of  little  value  to  the  general  question,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  direction  to  the  attainment  of 
what  is  now  regarded,  by  competent  judges,  as 
an  impracticable  end.  Assuming,  as  they  did, 
that  there  must  be  some  one  primitive  language 
in  existence,  from  which  all  others  were  derived, 
they  were  principally  concerned  to  determine 


32  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

which  was  the  one  entitled  to  that  honourable 
distinction.  But  here  an  endless  number  of 
competitors  started  up,  and  claimed  the  supe- 
riority ;  and  almost  every  advocate  of  a  favourite 
theory  was  as  confident  that  he  had  found  the 
lost  language,  as  some  recent  travellers  and 
speculators  have  been  that  they  have  found,  in 
regions  wide  as  the  poles  asunder,  the  ten 
tribes  of  the  house  of  Israel.  Amidst  these 
conflicting  claims,  pertinaciously  maintained, 
there  was  little  prospect  of  arriving  at  a  satis- 
factory conclusion. 

The  greater  number  of  waiters  who  pursued 
their  speculations  by  this  theory  were  content — 
on  the  authority  of  tradition,  or  from  respect  to 
the  language  in  which  the  Old  Testament  was 
written — to  assign  the  coveted  pre-eminence  to 
the  Hebrew  tongue  ;  while  some  others  con- 
ceded it  to  the  Abyssinian,  regarding  that 
language  as  the  one  from  which  the  former  was 
derived.  National  partialities  and  limited  views 
of  the  philosophy  of  language  led  other  persons — 
and  those,  too,  of  no  mean  name  in  the  republic 
of  letters — to  imagine  that  their  own  native 
tongue  was  the  oldest,  and  the  parent  of  all  the 
others,  whether  living  or  dead.  This  ancient 
and  parental  character  was  claimed,  with  great 
positiveness,  in  the  absence  of  all  proof,  or 
with  a  show  of  very  slender  evidence,  for  the 
Chinese,  the  Biscayan,  and  some  of  the  Celtic 
dialects,  as  the  Welsh,  and  the  low  Dutch.  At 
this  period  the  learned  world — so  far  as  it 
entertained  any  opinion  on  the  subject — le- 
ceived  the  imuression  that  all  existing  languages 


OF  LANGUAGE.  33 

must  have  derived  their  descent  from  some 
one  parent  stock  yet  extant;  and,  with  few 
exceptions,  believed  that  this  was  the  Hebrew. 
The  grammatical  studies  which  the  Eomans 
had  borrowed  from  the  Greeks,  and  which  they 
had  reduced  to  an  excellent  system,  were  nearly 
lost  sight  of  in  what  are  called  the  dark 
ages.  The  revival  of  letters  in  Europe — which 
preceded  and  stood  in  close  connexion  with  the 
great  reformation  from  Popery — with  the  inven- 
tion of  the  art  of  printing,  gave  birth  to  that 
philological  spirit  which  distinguishes  modern 
scholarship.  Originating  in  Germany,  it  was 
soon  transplanted  to  our  own  country,  and 
flourished  to  a  great  extent  in  our  universities, 
as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  Erasmus  taught 
Greek  at  Cambridge  as  early  as  the  year  1510. 
But,  in  all  that  was  done  down  to  the  days  of 
Bentley,  regard  was  principally  had  to  verbal 
criticism,  and  to  the  correction  of  ancient  classic 
authors.  Many  able  successors  arose,  from 
Dawes  to  Porson,  who  have  advanced  this 
department  of  scholarship  to  its  utmost  limits. 
During  this  whole  period,  the  long  and  much 
cherished  opinion  of  an  existing  parent  lan- 
guage was  held  in  this  country,  and  generally 
on  the  continent. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  this  notion  was 
strongly  or  indirectly  attacked  by  the  theories 
f  language  advocated  by  several  writers  of 
sceptical  tendency.  Considerable  doubt  soon 
began  to  be  entertained,  even  by  persons 
friendly  to  revealed  truth,  as   to  the   sound- 


34  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ness  of  the  received  opinion,  and  its  sufficiency 
to  account  for  all  the  facts  of  the  case  bearing 
jn  the  origin  and  progress  of  language,  so  as 
to  harmonize  with  the  statements  contained  in 
the  Mosaic  record.  Up  to  this  time  the  history 
of  languages,  founded  on  an  extensive  and 
accurate  analysis  of  their  grammatical  as  well 
as  their  verbal  relations,  was  an  almost  un- 
trodden field.  Leibnitz — whose  comprehensive 
genius,  it  has  been  remarked,  seems  to  have 
suggested  the  beginning  of  almost  every  im- 
provement in  science — had  long  before  expressed 
his  dissatisfaction  with  the  forced  etymologies 
resorted  to  with  a  view  to  establish  the  affilia- 
tion of  the  European  languages  to  an  oriental 
parent ;  and  showed  that  we  must  proceed  by 
comparison,  rather  than  by  derivation,  and  take 
the  widest  possible  deductions;  comparing  the 
most  simple  and  necessary  terms  in  the  lan- 
guages of  nations  most  remote  in  geographical 
position.  But  although  the  right  method,  as 
we  now  think,  was  thus  suggested,  nothing  of 
great  importance  was  performed  till  the  opening 
of  the  Sanscrit,  or  sacred  language  of  India,  to 
European  scholars.  The  similitude  of  Sanscrit 
words  and  grammatical  forms  and  inflexions 
with  those  of  Persian,  Greek,  and  even  of  Latin, 
presented  new  channels  of  investigation,  and 
tempted  the  earnest  and  the  bold — many  of 
whom  were  stimulated  by  the  desire  to  resist  the 
growing  sceptical  spirit  of  the  age — to  explore 
these  untrodden  ways  of  learning,  guided  by  the 
sound  and  comprehensive  principles  of  careful 
comparison,  with  a  view  to  the  classification  of 


OF  LANGUAGE.  35 

languages.  This  marked  a  new  era  in  philolo- 
gical disquisition,  alike  rendered  memorable  by 
the  names  and  labours  of  a  host  of  competent 
scholars,  and  by  the  brilliant  and  satisfactory  re- 
sults of  their  researches.  These  toils  and  rewards 
have  served  to  prove  that  the  Christian  church 
has  no  interest  in  repressing  philosophical  in- 
quiries and  scientific  pursuits,  inasmuch  as  truth 
can  never  be  at  enmity  with  truth  ;  and  that 
while  errors  may  arise  from  partial  discoveries 
and  prejudiced  views,  to  the  injury  of  Christ- 
ianity for  a  time,  their  refutation,  by  the  aid  oi 
clearer  light  and  advancing  discoveries,  cannot 
fail  to  enrich  the  evidences  of  revealed  religion 
through  all  coming  ages.  It  is  contended  by 
some  writers,  that  the  efficient  commencement  of 
this  study  was  undertaken  by  a  few  of  our  coun- 
trymen in  India,  as  Sir  W.  Jones  and  Dr.  Carey, 
who  acquired  a  thorough  and  critical  knowledge 
of  the  Sanscrit  language  from  the  Pundits,  and 
made  it,  by  their  writings,  accessible  to  European 
students.  From  England  the  knowledge  thus 
acquired  of  this  language  passed  into  Germany, 
and  gave  a  wonderful  impulse  to  the  study  of 
comparative  grammar  there.  The  Sanscrit 
was  first  cultivated  on  the  European  continent, 
by  a  German  Jesuit,  Han  Hanxleden,  and  a 
German  Carmelite,  named  Paulinus.  They 
published  a  book  on  the  subject,  at  Rome,  in 
1790.  These  pioneers  were  followed  by  the 
Schlegels,  Frederick  and  William,  and  Othman 
Franke,  who  published  a  chrestomathy,  and  a 
host  of  other  scholars,  among  whom  two  of  the 


36  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

most  distinguished,  who  still  survive,  are  Pro- 
fessor Lassen,  of  Bonn,  and  Professor  F.  Bopp, 
whose  Comparative  Grammar,  now  accessible 
to  the  English  student,  is  beyond  all  praise,  and 
has  vastly  aided  the  study  of  language.  Others, 
as  the  Humboldts,  Ritter,  Remusat,  Grimm, 
Chezy,  and  Rosen,  have  distinguished  them- 
selves in  this  department  of  learning,  and  laid 
mankind  under  deep  and  lasting  obligations. 

If  it  be  imagined  that  England  has  little  to 
offer  that  will  bear  comparison  with  our  conti- 
nental neighbours,  in  regard  either  to  compara- 
tive philology  in  general,  or  to  Indian  scholar- 
ship in  particular,  let  it  be  remembered  that 
the  labours  of  Sir  W.  Jones,  Sir  Charles  Wil- 
kins,  and  Professor  Wilson,  in  the  latter  de- 
partment, and  of  Dr.  Pritchard,  Dr.  Wiseman, 
and  Mr.  Sharon  Turner,  in  the  former,  have 
resulted  in  no  insignificant  contributions  to  the 
general  design.  And  it  is  no  small  honour  to 
have  been  pioneers  in  this  enterprise.  While 
the  disposition  to  undervalue  English  in  com- 
parison with  German  learning  is  foolishly  pre- 
valent in  this  country,  it  is  worth  knowing 
that  the  Germans  give  great  praise  to  our 
qountrymen  for  their  enterprise  and  industry 
m  the  study  of  the  Sanscrit  language. 

This  vast  improvement  in  the  spirit  and 
object  of  philological  investigations,  in  modern 
times,  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  its  most  distin- 
guished votaries  now  pursue  it,  not  with  the 
intention  of  building  up  some  previously-con- 
ceived theory,  but  in  the  genuine  spirit  of  the 
inductive  philosophy ;  endeavouring  rather  to 


OF  LANGUAGE.  37 

ascertain  facts,  and  to  arrive  at  any  tmihful 
conclusion  to  which  these  will  lead.  And 
whereas,  in  former  times,  inquirers  principally 
directed  their  attention  to  a  verbal  comparison 
of  languages,  and  traced  out,  minutely,  real  or 
fancied  resemblances,  with  a  view  to  prove  that 
a  given  language  was  the  descendant  or  off- 
shoot of  another;  recent  investigations  havp 
been  successfully  directed  to  the  distribution  of 
languages  into  groups  or  families  ;  by  which 
process,  languages,  which  were  usually  regarded 
as  the  most  dissimilar,  have  been  classified  and 
arranged  in  orderly  form,  by  their  undoubted 
affinities.  Of  this  result,  and  of  its  bearing  on 
the  ultimate  design  of  this  essay,  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  furnish  certain  illustrations  in  some 
of  our  subsequent  pages.  In  the  mean  time  we 
content  ourselves  with  observing,  that,  in  this 
comparative  study  of  languages,  their  gram- 
matical elements  are  minutely  decomposed  and 
compared,  as  well  as  their  words,  and  that  no 
direct  affinity  is  admitted  between  any  of  them 
that  will  not  abide  the  most  severe  scrutiny.. 
The  advocates  of  verbal,  and  those  of  gram- 
matical comparison,  have  severally  denounced 
the  principles  of  the  other  school ;  but  philo- 
logical learning  has,  unquestionably,  derived 
advantage  from  both  *  as  their  labours  have 
resulted  in  the  disclosure  of  the  most  important 
connexions  in  languages,  grouped  by  the  idioms 
of  nations,  and  in  showing  a  wonderful  con- 
formity between  those  which  were  never  sus- 
pected to  be  mutually  related. 

The  systematic  labourers  in  this  new  depart- 
4 


88  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ment  of  learning  have  been  much  aided  in  their 
work  by  the  diligent  inquiries  of  travellers, 
who  have,  for  various  purposes,  collected  lists 
of  foreign  words,  and  brought  within  reach 
vocabularies  of  most  languages  of  civilized  and 
barbarous  communities,  thus  furnishing  the 
materials  of  extended  comparison.  Amongst 
these  voluntary  contributors,  justice  demands 
that  we  speak  in  honourable  terms  of  many 
Christian  missionaries,  who,  in  addition  to  their 
chosen  ?md  appropriate  work  of  preaching 
the  gospel  of  salvation  to  the  heathen,  with  a 
view  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  the  worship  of  dumb  idols  to  the 
service  of  the  living  God,  have  devoted  them- 
selves, with  untiring  zeal,  to  the  advancement 
of  civilization.  In  securing  their  great  design, 
as  the  benefactors  of  the  most  degraded  of  our 
species,  they  have  given  letters  to  some  bar- 
barous nations,  and  constructed  written  gram- 
mars for  those  who  knew  nothing  of  the  laws 
or  parts  of  speech.  They  have  also  formed  ex- 
tensive dictionaries  of  many  other  tongues,  by 
which  they  have  greatly  aided  philological  sci- 
ence in  reaching  its  present  exalted  height,  and 
facilitated  all  future  inquiries  into  the  origin 
and  relation  of  language  in  genera).  In  this, 
as  in  some  other  things,  they  have  shown  that 
learning  and  religion  are  compatible,  that 
taste  may  be  combined  with  piety,  and  that 
Christianity  promotes  all  that  appertains  to  the 
welfare  of  man,  as  an  inhabitant  of  earth  and 
time,  while  it  alone  secures  his  happiness  in  the 
tndless  duration  of  the  world  to  come.     Men 


OF  LANGUAGE.  39 

who  have  secluded  themselves  for  years  from  the 
refinement  of  civilized  life  to  acquire  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  a  difficult  language,  in  which  to 
speak  words  that  should  drop  like  seeds  of 
power  into  savage  hearts — or  who  have  dwelt, 
like  some  of  the  African  missionaries,  in  filthy 
hovels,  to  catch  the  peculiar  click  of  the  Hot- 
tentot language — have  proved  themselves,  in 
other  particulars,  capable  of  sympathizing  with 
the  most  refined  and  exalted  pursuits  which 
bear,  however  remotely,  on  the  general  good  of 
mankind.  Like  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, they  have  deemed  themselves  "  debtors 
both  to  the  Greeks,  and  to  the  barbarians  ; 
both  to  the  wise,  and  to  the  unwise." 

During  the  period  when  the  science  of  phi- 
lological ethnography  was  in  a  transition  state, 
it  was  much  feared  by  some  pious  persons  that 
its  researches  were  pointing  to  a  conclusion 
adverse  to  revelation  ;  and  other  parties  could 
ill  conceal  the  pleasure  with  which  they  anti- 
cipated that  its  demonstrations  would  falsify 
the  statements  of  the  Bible  touching  the  ori- 
ginal perfection  of  man,  and  the  unity  of  the 
different  races  of  the  human  family.  We  are 
told,  in  the  sacred  writings,  that  the  first  in- 
habitants of  the  world  were  a  single  pair,  and 
that  from  them  descended  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  This  pair,  of  course,  and  their  imme- 
diate descendants,  spoke  one  language ;  and 
this  language  was,  after  the  deluge,  broken  up, 
by  a  miraculous  interposition,  into  a  number 
of  idioms.  We  are  not  told,  nor  is  it  probable, 
fchat  the  original  Adamite  language  was  abo- 


40  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

lished,  and  that  all  these  varieties  were  so  many 
new  creations  ;  on  the  contrary,  we  should  ex- 
pect that,  however  different  these  tongues  might 
become  by  the  confusion  introduced  at  Babel, 
and  by  the  incongruous  habits  of  different  tribes, 
there  would  still  be  traces  of  a  common  origin. 
It  is  the  acknowledged  tendency  of  philology 
to  establish  this.*  Thus  it  has  happened  with 
language,  as  with  astronomy,  geology,  and  the 
hieroglyphics  of  Egypt — from  all  of  which,  at 
different  times,  an  unfavourable  verdict  has 
been  anticipated  on  the  truthfulness  of  the 
Bible — that  every  conclusion  arrived  at  is  in 
entire  harmony  with  the  testimony  of  the 
Scripture  which  "  cannot  be  broken,"  His- 
tory, science,  and  sound  philosophy,  can  never 
be  found  adverse  to  that  blessed  book,  which 
bears  upon  its  pages  the  impress  of  heaven, 
and  which  has  been  exposed  to  every  possible 
test,  through  a  succession  of  ages,  still  proving 
itself  to  be  the  word  of  God,  which  liveth  and 
abideth  for  ever. 

"  Like  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale,  and  midway  leaves  the  storm; 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 

By  the  labours  of  others,  as  thus  narrated, 
though  pursued  with  an  object  different  to  that 
which  we  propose  to  ourselves,  our  path  is 
happily  prepared  for  prosecuting  our  present 
inquiry  with  a  degree  of  safety  and  pleasure, 
and  with  a  confidence  of  success,  which  could 
not  otherwise  have  been  felt.     Still,  it  must  be 

*  See  Donaldson's  New  Cratylus,  p.  13. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  41 

admitted  that  there  are  many  and  formidable 
difficulties  remaining  in  the  way  of  our  arriv- 
ing at  undoubted  conclusions  on  some  of  the 
debateable  points  which  are  fairly  opened  by 
the  question;  for  conflicting  opinions  are  still 
maintained  concerning  them,  with  considerable 
ingenuity  and  show  of  reason.  The  subject 
itself  is  involved  in  deep  obscurity  as  it  recedes, 
in  some  of  its  principal  features,  from  our  view, 
into  the  most  remote  antiquity,  and  as  it  is 
blended  with  some  matters  of  doubt,  not  capa- 
ble of  easy  solution.  Human  knowledge  in 
this,  as  in  other  departments,  has  its  bound- 
aries, which  we  may  approach,  but  not  pass 
over.  While,  however,  the  precise  limits  of  at- 
tainment are  not  clearly  defined,  there  remains 
a  vast  space  of  open  ground  on  which  we  may 
lawfully  exercise  our  powers  of  investigation. 
Inquiries,  such  as  those  to  which  we  now  bend 
our  attention,  if  undertaken  in  a  right  spirit, 
may  be  made  at  once  interesting  and  instructive, 
for  the  streams  of  human  learning  roll  over 
golden  sands,  and  we  may  collect  their  scattered 
grains,  work  them  into  fine  gold,  and  present 
them  as  an  acceptable  offering  on  the  altar  of 
the  cross,  in  the  sanctuary  of  heavenly  truth. 

The  questions  which  are  now  to  claim  our 
consideration  respect  the  manner  in  which 
mankind  were  first  induced  to  employ  arti- 
culate sounds  for  communicating  their  thoughts 
to  each  other,  and  the  steps  by  which  the  vari- 
ous languages  of  the  earth  have  reached  their 
present  form.    In  other  words,  we  may  state 


42  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  former  part  of  the  subject  thus:  Is  the 
faculty  of  speech  natural,  or  acquired  ?  Is  it 
the  result  of  instruction,  or  of  imitation,  or  of 
both  ?  Is  it  the  gift  of  God,  or  the  invention 
of  men?  When  these  points  are  settled,  so  far 
as  we  are  able  to  accomplish  their  settlement, 
we  shall  proceed  to  examine  the  questions: 
Was  there  one  primitive  language,  or  many  ? 
And,  if  the  former,  by  what  means  was  the 
existing  diversity  effected  ? 

It  will  be  at  once  perceived,  by  every 
thoughtful  reader,  that  these  interrogatories 
open  a  wide  field  of  contemplation,  and  present 
to  view  some  interesting  collateral  subjects, 
which  will  claim  passing  observation,  in  order 
to  the  due  elucidation  of  the  main  topics  of 
inquiry.  It  would  ill  become  us  to  dogmatise 
on  any  of  the  matters  involved  in  the  subject, 
which  may  be  supposed  to  furnish  but  imper- 
fect data,  or  even  to  profess  to  exhaust  a  theme 
so  prolific,  within  the  limits  assigned  to  this 
treatise.  Extensive  grammatical  or  etymolo- 
gical comparison  would  scarcely  comport  with 
our  design,  which  is  to  convey  a  popular  view 
of  a  someAvhat  intricate  subject,  and  conse- 
quently will  not  be  attempted ;  while  the  results 
of  such  comparison,  as  effected  by  others,  will 
be  stated  in  aid  of  our  object.  To  affect  great 
originality  would  only  be  a  betrayal  of  vanity, 
forbidden  by  the  master  spirits  who  have 
brought  to  this  department  of  scholarship  their 
most  mature  and  learned  capabilities.  Some 
service  may,  however,  it  is  thought,  be  done, 
to  the  cause  of  science  and  of  revealed  religion , 


OF  LANGUAGE.  43 

if  we  condense  the  facts  and  reasonings  on  the 
subject  of  general  language,  which  are  scat- 
tered over  many  volumes,  inaccessible  to  the 
masses  of  our  reading  population,  construct 
our  own  argument  out  of  materials  thus  col- 
lected from  various  regions,  and  avail  ourselves 
of  the  refreshing  light  shed  by  the  most  recent 
investigations  upon  our  theme.  As  it  would 
be  alike  unphilosophical  and  unchristian  to 
make  this  attempt  without  reference  to  the 
Mosaic  records,  the  oldest  writings  in  the 
world,  we  shall  gather  up  the  intimations 
which  the  inspired  and  invaluable  history  of 
Genesis  and  the  other  sacred  books  contain  on 
the  subject,  walk  fully  in  their  light,  so  far  as  it 
shines,  and  estimate  the  conclusions  at  which 
we  may  arrive,  just  in  the  proportion  in  which 
they  shall  appear  to  harmonize  with  the  testi- 
mony of  Holy  Scripture.  We  value  this  book, 
and  are  made  to  feel  its  supreme  worth  in  all 
studies  connected  with  the  nature  of  mind,  and 
with  the  history  of  our  race  ;  for  while  it  is 
emphatically  a  revelation  of  God,  it  is  scarcely 
less  so  of  man,  describing  as  it  does  the  time 
and  manner  of  his  creation — the  capabilities 
with  which  he  was  endowed  in  his  primeval 
state— the  mournful  change  which  passed  over 
him  in  consequence  of  sin — and  the  possibility 
of  his  restoration,  by  the  renewing  influence  ot 
the  Holy  Spirit,  to  greater  dignity  and  happi- 
ness than  that  from  which  Adam  fell  ;  while  the 
destiny  awaiting  him,  as  an  heir  of  immortality 
beyond  the  grave,  is  herein  unfolded  to  his  be- 
lieving view. 


44  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 


CHAPTER   III. 

Definition  of  language  —  Metaphorical  application  of  tne 
term  —  Natural  6igns  —  Symbolical  representations  — 
Systematic  signs  —  The  supposed  connexion  between 
words  and  ideas— Examples  supplied  by  the  Hebrew  and 
English  languages  —  Radical  expressive  sounds  and  let- 
ters—The object  of  language— The  origin  of  language— 
Question  stated  —Theory  of  its  invention — Advocates  of 
this  hypothesis— Its  absurdities  —  The  weight  due  to 
names  as  authorities  on  the  subject  —  Advantages  pos- 
sessed by  modern  over  former  writers  on  language. 

Some  definition  or  description  of  what  is  in- 
tended by  language  may  be  desirable  before  we 
proceed  in  our  design  to  speak  of  its  origin. 
The  English  word  is  derived  immediately  from 
the  French,  tongue,  and  that  from  the  Latin, 
lingua,  a  tongue.  We  employ  the  term,  vaguely, 
to  describe  the  various  established  methods  by 
which  human  beings  convey  to  each  other  their 
thoughts  and  desires,  and  more  strictly  we 
apply  it  to  articulated  speech  and  to  written 
communications.  Dr.  Blair  defines  language 
to  be  "  the  expression  of  our  ideas  by  certain 
articulate  sounds,  which  are  used  as  the  signs 
of  those  ideas."  This  definition  is  substan- 
tially adopted  by  subsequent  writers  on  the 
subject,  in  encyclopaedias,  and  other  works  ; 
but  it  appears  to  us,  nevertheless,  to  be  de- 
fective, because  it  does  not  include  a  reference 
to  all  the  states  of  mind  of  which  language  is 


OF  LANGUAGE.  45 

expressive.  Language  may  be  briefly  and 
comprehensively  described  as  "  The  vocal  or 
written  expression  of  thought  and  emotion," 
constituting  itself,  as  it  does,  the  handmaid 
both  of  the  intellect  and  of  the  heart. 

The  term,  language,  is  applied  metaphorically 
to  several  other  modes  of  expression,  by  which 
ideas  are  made  to  pass  from  mind  to  mind,  as 
when  we  speak  of  the  language  of  looks,  or  of 
the  language  of  signs.  The  whole  class  of 
natural  signs,  consisting  of  modifications  of  the 
features,  gestures  of  the  body,  and  other  more 
passionate  expressions  of  emotion,  are  usually 
brought  under  the  denomination  of  natural 
language.  These  are,  with  some  propriety, 
termed  natural,  in  contradistinction  to  conven- 
tional language,  as  they  appear  to  be  made,  if 
they  are  not  interpreted,  instinctively.  We 
tremble,  turn  pale,  or  blush,  not  because  we 
have  seen  others  thus  act,  nor  with  a  design  to 
develope  our  mental  feelings — which  we  may 
often  wish  in  such  circumstances  to  conceal — 
but  because  these  indications  are  prompted  by 
nature,  and  are  generally  the  manifestations  of 
existing  states  of  mind.  It  is  not,  however,  so 
clear,  that  these  signs  are  instinctively  inter- 
preted aright ;  for,  on  the  supposition  that  we 
had  never  laughed  or  trembled,  nor  had  seen 
others  thus  act,  nor  had  been  instructed  in  the 
connexion  between  the  mental  feeling  and  its 
expression,  we  should  be  unable  to  understand 
the  meaning  of  laughter  or  of  trembling. 
Even  the  smile  or  frown  of  a  mother  is  not 
instinctively   interpreted  by  the  babe,   whose 


46  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

powers  of  observation  must  be  awakened,  and, 
to  some  extent,  cultivated,  before  it  is  able  to 
attach  any  meaning  to  the  frown  or  to  the 
smile,  and  still  less  to  the  one  as  distinct  from 
the  other. 

Several  other  modes  of  communication,  in 
frequent  use,  are  generally  described  as  natural 
signs,  because  they  furnish  methods  of  speaking 
I'V  action,  which  can  be  readily  adopted  where 
oral  communication  is  undesirable  or  impos- 
sible. Inclining  the  head  forward,  as  a  token 
of  assent ;  or  shaking  it,  as  an  intimation  of 
disapprobation,  is  almost  natural  to  children, 
and  is  often  adopted  for  convenience  by  adults. 
Waving  the  hand,  to  denote  a  wish  that  a 
person  should  recede  or  approach  ;  or  kissing 
it,  in  token  of  respect,  are  actions  all  but 
universally  understood.  The  use  of  such  signs 
is  more  common  with  some  other  nations  than 
with  ourselves,  either  as  a  substitute  for,  or 
as  an  aid  to,  articulate  speech.  Amongst 
ancient  oriental  tribes,  moral  instruction  was 
extensively  conveyed  by  the  language  of  signs, 
and  it  is  still  used  in  eastern  countries  for 
ordinary  purposes  to  an  extent  unknown  in 
this  land. 

And  as  adapting  itself  to  the  habits  and  pre- 
dilections of  the  Jewish  people,  God  was  pleased, 
at  times,  to  employ  a  most  striking  and  im- 
pressive series  of  symbolical  representations, 
embodied  in  a  series  of  actions  which  he  com- 
manded— as  when  Jeremiah  broke  a  potter's 
vessel,  threw  a  book  into  the  Euphrates,  and 
put  on  bonds  and  yokes — or  as  when  Ezekiel 


OF  LANGUAGE.  47 

portrayed  on  a  tile  a  besieged  city,  or  scattered, 
divided,  or  burned,  the  locks  of  his  head.  We 
do  not  refer  to  these  for  the  purpose  of  classify- 
ing them  under  natural  signs,  but  regard  them 
as  remarkable  methods  adopted  in  the  wisdom 
and  condescension  of  the  Divine  Being,  with  a 
view  to  express  affecting  truths  to  a  people  who 
were  slow  to  comprehend,  and  still  more  back- 
ward to  believe,  the  parabolic  or  even  the 
literal  words  of  the  holy  prophets. 

A  carefully  constructed  system  of  signs  has 
been  invented,  by  the  benevolent  ingenuity  of 
the  present  day,  to  alleviate  the  calamities  of 
the  dumb,  by  means  of  which  they  are  not 
only  enabled  to  hold  intercourse  with  ench 
other,  but  to  receive  elementary  truths  from 
others,  and,  above  all,  to  understand  and  to 
enjoy  the  consolations  of  that  religion  whose 
gracious  Author,  in  the  days  of  his  flesh, 
according  to  the  prediction  of  ancient  prophecy, 
eaused  "  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  to  sing."  All 
these  signs,  however,  and  many  others,  in- 
cluding the  art  of  pantomime,  as  formerly  in 
extensive  use,  are  clearly  inadequate  to  our 
entire  wants  as  intellectual  and  moral  agents 
and  are,  therefore,  not  strictly  included  in  our 
view  of  language.  In  the  more  restricted  sen  so 
in  which  we  now  employ  the  term,  we  shall 
regard  it  as  the  vocal  utterance  of  words  and 
sentences  ;  because  these  embody  and  convey 
the  understood  illustration  of  the  sentiments,  of 
which  written  language  is  constituted,  more 
palpably  and  permanently,  the  sign. 

Whether    words    are    merely    conventional 


48  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

symbols,  or  whether  any  natural  connexion 
exists  between  ideas  and  words,  were  points 
much  debated  by  some  ancient  writers,  and  are 
matters  on  which  some  diversity  of  opinion 
exists  at  the  present  day.  Allowing  it  to  be 
very  probable  that,  at  first,  such  a  connexion 
extensively,  if  not  universally  existed,  the  con- 
nexion can  only  affect  a  small  portion  of  the 
fabric  of  language  as  now  constituted  ;  because 
different  articulated  sounds  are  now  employed  in 
various  tongues  to  describe  the  same  thing.  The 
connexion,  therefore,  between  most  thoughts 
and  words  may  justly  be  considered  arbitrary, 
and  the  result,  generally,  of  agreement  amongst 
men.  There  is,  however,  little  reason  to  doubt 
that  language,  the  nearer  we  approach  to  its 
rise,  becomes  not  only  more  natural  and  simple, 
but,  so  far  as  it  goes,  more  capable  of  ex- 
pressing by  sounds  the  qualities  of  the  things 
which  it  represents.  Hence,  we  find  in  some 
of  the  Semitic  languages,  which  have  not  un- 
dergone any  great  amount  of  change  for  many 
generations — as  in  the  Hebrew,  for  instance — 
that  proper  names  are,  to  a  remarkable  extent, 
expressive  of  the  properties  of  the  things  or  of 
the  persons  which  they  were  intended  to  desig- 
nate. The  attempt,  naturally  made  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  civilization,  to  represent  by 
vocal  sounds  the  qualities  of  the  objects  denoted 
by  these  sounds,  was  evidently,  to  a  great 
extent,  successful ;  for,  in  all  languages,  we  find 
some  words,  at  least,  thus  constructed. 

The  opinion  has  been  entertained  by  several 
writers  on  language,  that  it  is  comparatively 


OF  LANGUAGE.  49 

easy  to  imitate,  by  the  tones  of  the  human  voice, 
the  quality  of  the  sound  or  noise  made  by  any 
external  object  around  us.  As  an  illustration 
of  this  theory,  we  may  observe  that  the  Hebrew 
tongue  is  known  to  have  many  words,  the 
sounds  of  which  are  considered  to  accord  well 
with  their  signification.  A  familiar  instance 
of  this  is  furnished  by  the  word  **!?'?  korey,  a 
partridge,  which  means  "  a  caller,"  and  is  ex- 
pressive alike  of  the  nature  of  the  bird,  and  of 
the  cry  it  utters.*  The  word  I\£/  la-ye-lah, 
night,  has  been  cited,  by  Calmet,  as  another 
instance,  because  the  sound  of  the  word  is 
supposed  to  be  imitative  of  the  nocturnal 
bowlings  of  hyasnas.  These  examples,  how- 
ever, appear  to  us  more  fanciful  than  true. 

Other  and  more  extensive  illustrations  of  this 
theory  are  furnished  in  the  structure  of  the 
English  language.  We  have  many  words  in 
common  use,  the  signification  of  which  seems 
to  be  definitely  conveyed  by  their  sound,  as 
when  one  sort  of  wind  is  said  to  whistle,  and 
another  to  roar;  when  a  serpent  is  said  to  hiss, 
and  a  fly  to  buzz ;  when  falling  timber  is  said 
to  crash ;  and  when  a  stream  is  said  to  flow ; 
or  hail  to  rattle.  In  these,  and  in  many  other 
instances  which  could  readily  be  selected  from 
our  own  tongue,  some  kind  of  analogy  between 
the  words  and  the  actions  signified  by  them  is 
plainly  enough  discernible. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  plausibly 

said  in  favour  of  this  theory,  and  the  somewhat 

striking   proofs    and    illustrations    occasionally 

*  Gesenius's  Hebrew  Lexicon.    In  loc 

5 


50  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

presented  of  its  truthfulness,  we  venture  to 
question  the  opinion  that  words  of  this  order 
have  a  definite  meaning  in  themselves,  or  an 
adaptation  to  suggest  the  particular  thought  or 
feeling  usually  attached  to  sound  ;  and  we  still 
incline  to  the  belief  that  they  obtain  all  their 
meaning  from  convention  and  use.  When 
uttered  in  the  hearing  of  an  Englishman,  they 
suggest  certain  analogies,  but  to  a  foreigner, 
ignorant  of  our  language,  or  to  one  unac- 
quainted with  all  its  niceties  of  idiom  and  of 
sound,  even  the  characteristic  words  we  have 
now  cited  as  examples  would  fail  to  convey  any 
adequate  conception  of  the  qualities  of  the 
things  they  describe.  It  is  not  intended  by 
these  remarks  to  deny  altogether  the  natural 
significancy  of  some  words,  because  apparent 
remains  of  a  relation  between  them  and  the 
objects  represented  by  language  can  be  traced 
to  a  considerable  extent;  but,  forasmuch  as  the 
analogies  thus  instituted  furnish  so  much  scope 
for  the  play  of  fancy  and  the  flights  of  a  wild 
imagination,  all  speculations  and  assumed  re- 
sults of  investigations,  in  this  department,  should 
be  received  with  much  caution  in  the  attempt 
to  form  a  general  theory. 

This  principle  has,  however,  been  imagined 
extensively  to  pervade  all  languages  in  another 
form,  inasmuch  as  it  is  said  that  they  contain 
radical  letters  and  syllables  expressive  of  the 
most  distinguishing  qualities  of  sensible  objects. 
?.L  De  Brosses*  and  Dr.  Wallis  have  elaborately 
defended  this  view.       The  last-named  writer 

In  his  Traite  de  la  Formation  Mechanique  des  Langues. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  51 

represents  it  as  a  peculiar  excellence  of  the 
English  language  that,  beyond  all  others,  it 
expresses  the  nature  of  objects  and  actions  be 
sounds,  which  we  sharpen  or  soften,  weaken  of 
strengthen,  according  as  the  idea  to  be  sug- 
gested requires.  Examples  of  what  is  intended 
in  these  views  are  furnished  in  the  initial 
letters  of  words  in  daily  use.  For  instance, 
those  which  are  formed  upon  st,  are  supposed 
always  to  belong  to,  and  to  denote  properties 
of  firmness  and  strength,  as  stand,  staff,  stamp. 
Words  beginning  with  str,  are  said  to  be  indi- 
cative of  violence  and  energy,  as  strive,  stripe, 
stretch.  Those  commencing  with  thr,  are  held 
to  imply  forcible  motion,  as  throw,  throb, 
through.  This  theory  likewise  assumes  that 
the  terminations  of  words  frequently  present 
the  same  characteristics.  Hence,  those  ending 
in  ash,  are  supposed  to  denote  something  acting 
sharply,  as  gash,  rash,  slash  ;  and  those  ter- 
minating in  ush,  something  acting  more  ob- 
tusely,  as  in  crush,  brush,  hush.  Some  radical 
letters,  it  is  held,  carry  this  expressive  power  in 
most,  if  not  in  all,  European  languages;  as  jl, 
denoting  fluency  ;  cl,  a  gentle  descent ;  r,  as 
having  relation  to  rapidity  of  motion  ;  and  c,  to 
cavity  or  hollowness.* 

There  is  much  more  of  ingenuity  than  of 
sound  philosophy  in  the  opinions  now  passing 
under  review.  Something  of  this  supposed 
analogy  may  have  pervaded  language  in  its 
earlier  stages;  but  as  terms  came  to  be  mul- 
tiplied in  its  progress,  words  would,  by  various 
*  Blair's  Rhetoric,  Lee.  vi. 


52  thf  origin  and  n;©c.nEcs 

irregular  methods  of  derivation  and  composition, 
deviate  widely  from  tLe  primitive  character  of 
their  roots,  and  so  lose  all  conformity  in  sound 
to  the  things  they  designate.  Moreover,  in  the 
names  of  objects  which  address  the  sight  only, 
where  neither  noise  nor  motion  is  concerned, 
and  still  more  in  the  terms  appropriated  to 
moral  ideas,  the  analogy  appears  altogether  to 
fail.  But  this  question  is  fully  argued  in 
Harris's  Hermes,  to  which  work  reference  may 
be  made  for  further  information  on  the  subject. 
He  says,  as  the  result  of  an  extended  investi- 
gation,* "  Language  is  not  a  picture  of  the 
universe  where  the  words  are  as  figures  or 
images  of  all  particulars.  Words  are  the  s}-m- 
bols  of  ideas,  both  general  and  particular  ;  yet, 
of  the  general  primarily,  essentially,  and  imme- 
diately ;  of  the  particular,  only  secondarily, 
accidentally,  and  mediately."  This  view  ap- 
pears to  us  to  be  reasonable  and  just,  as  it 
represents  words  to  be  the  symbols,  and  not 
the  imitations,  of  things  ;  for  that  verbal  signs 
are  for  the  most  part  arbitrary,  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  other  signs  might  have  been  fixed 
upon  equally  well  adapted  to  teach  the  meaning 
which  the  present  symbols  convey.  "  A  rose 
would  be  as  sweet  with  any  other  name." 

The  object  or  design  of  language  appears  to 
be  so  simple,  that  we  might  well  wonder  that 
any  diversity  of  view  should  have  been  enter- 
tained concerning  it, ;  and  yet  different  notions 
have  been  propagated  respecting  this,  which 
resolve  themselves  into  two  distinct  theories. 

*  Book  iii.  chap.  3. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  53 

One  of  these  assumes  that  the  object  of  lan- 
guage is  to  express  our  thoughts  and  feelings 
to  our  fellow-creatures  ;  and  the  other,  that  its 
design  is  to  produce  certain  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings in  the  minds  of  those  we  address.  An 
objection,  more  plausible  than  sound,  has  been 
brought  against  the  former  opinion,  by  affirm- 
ing that  language  is  often  subordinated  to  the 
purpose  of  concealing  the  thoughts,  or  of  dis- 
sembling the  feelings  of  the  speaker.  "  What 
is  the  object  of  language  ?"  said  some  one  to 
Talleyrand,  who  is  reported  as  having  quickly 
replied,  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  mere  diplomatist, 
"  To  conceal  thought."  It  is  admitted  that 
language  is  sometimes  employed  for  such  an 
end,  but  this  use  or  abuse  of  speech  is  justly 
held  to  be  a  deviation  from  its  original  purpose. 
It  was  not  intended  to  be  an  instrument  of 
deception,  nor  is  it  usually  so  employed  in 
communities  pervaded  by  correct  moral  senti- 
ments and  a  regard  to  the  authority  of  the 
God  of  truth.  The  law  of  mutual  relation  and 
dependence,  under  which  the  human  race  sub- 
sists, teaches  us  that  we  are  not  to  live  to 
ourselves,  but  for  others  ;  and  that,  in  carrying 
out  the  great  design  of  our  earthly  existence, 
the  strong  should  help  the  weak,  and  the  wise 
instruct  the  ignorant.  This  principle,  appli- 
cable to  language  as  to  all  other  endowments, 
conveys  to  us  a  conception  of  the  object  of 
speech,  which  is  to  impart  our  opinions  and 
emotions  with  a  view  to  benefit  and  enrich 
others ;  wrhile  this  direct  end  may  be  considered 
in  connexion  with  the  ultimate  design  of  pro- 
5* 


54  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ducing  impression  and  eliciting  thought.  It 
is  the  means  of  exhibiting  our  views  to  oui 
fellow-creatures,  and  that  exhibition  becomes 
the  instrument  of  producing  similar  thoughte 
in  the  minds  of  others.  The  object  embraced 
by  language  is  comprehensively  benevolent. 

Having  offered  these  definitions  and  general 
descriptions,  which  were  apparently  necessary 
for  the  right  understanding  of  our  subject,  a 
more  important  question  now  claims  our  atten- 
tion. This  respects  the  origin  of  language.  Is 
it  then  "  of  heaven  or  of  men?"  Only  two  sub- 
stantially opposite  opinions  can,  we  think,  be 
formed  respecting  it,  as  it  must  have  been 
either  the  gift  of  the  Creator,  or  the  fruit  of  hu- 
man invention.  Yet  these  separate  views  have 
sometimes  been  held  with  such  modifications, 
or  have  been  stated  with  so  much  of  reserve,  as 
to  conceal  the  more  objectionable  features  of  the 
one — which  attributes  it  exclusively  to  man  ;  or 
to  explain  away  much  of  the  value  and  philoso- 
phical clearness  of  the  other — which  ascribes  the 
faculty  of  speech  to  the  benevolence  of  the  ever 
blessed  God,  "  from  whom  cometh  down  everji 
good  gift,  and  every  perfect  gift."  The  ancient 
and  modern  advocates  of  those  speculative  sys- 
tems of  unbelief,  which  aim  at  excusing  the 
moral  pravity  of  our  nature  by  depreciating 
that  nature  itself,  have  assumed  that  man  is  a 
mere  animal,  an  organized  clod  of  a  superior 
order,  and  that  the  savage  state  is  natural  to 
him.  On  the  basis  of  this  assumption  some 
modern  philosophers  have  built  up  their  theory 
oi  language,   contending   that   the   faculty   of 


OF  LANGUAGE.  55 

speech  is  the  mere  instinctive  expression  of  the 
wants  and  desires  of  associated  animals,  who 
contrived  for  ages  to  do  without  it,  and  who 
only  gradually  invented  language  for  mutual 
convenience,  which  in  due  time  was  established 
in  its  present  form,  by  the  general  consent  of 
the  parties  employing  it. 

This  theory  assumes  that  in  the  infancy  of 
society  men  would  put  forth  an  effort,  aided  by 
the  promptings  of  necessity,  to  communicate  to 
each  other  their  common  instincts  ;  and  that 
for  a  considerable  period  they  confined  the 
interchange  of  thought  to  those  natural  signs 
of  which  we  have  already  spoken,  namely, 
variations  of  the  countenance,  gestures  of  the 
body,  and  movements  of  the  hands.  It  further 
supposes  that  men  eventually  found  out  that 
they  possessed  the  power  of  uttering  certain 
cries,  such  as  Oh !  and  Ah !  and  that  they 
poured  forth  these  exclamations  under  the 
influence  of  some  of  the  passions  or  feelings, 
of  which  they  were  susceptible.  Beyond  this,  it 
is  imagined  that  when  any  particular  noise  dis- 
tinguished any  object  to  which  they  wished  to 
direct  attention,  they  attempted  to  secure  that 
end  by  imitating  the  sound,  with  their  own 
unformed,  unmodulated  voices  ;  and  that  the 
effort  thus  put  forth  suggested  to  some  distin- 
guished genius  the  possibility  of  employing 
articulate  sound  as  the  basis  of  conventional 
language.  While  the  advocates  of  this  theory 
suppose  that  so  difficult  an  art  has  not  been  the 
invention  of  many  nations,  they  think  that 
it   was   originated    by   different   communities, 


56  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

at  various  times,  and  in  remote  parts  of  the 
world,  and  that  this  accounts  for  the  diversity 
of  spoken  language  now  existing.  The  writers 
who  espouse  this  theory  of  invented  language 
imagine  that,  aided  by  analogy,  they  can  trace 
all  the  steps  by  which  the  newly-discovered 
powers  of  the  human  voice  became  fully  em- 
ployed, and  likewise  the  method  by  which  the 
rude  materials  of  language  were  gradually  built 
up  into  an  orderly  system. 

Holding  that  the  motive,  in  a  barbarous  state 
of  society,  for  attempting  to  speak  at  all  would 
be  to  obtain  gratification  from  the  possession  of 
some  object,  for  which  the  concurrence  of  other 
persons  was  necessary,  they  assume  that  the 
imperative  verb — as  denoting  the  desire  to 
accomplish  an  end,  either  by  direct  command,  or 
by  request — was  created  as  the  nucleus,  or  fun- 
damental part  of  language ;  from  which  not  only 
the  other  forms  of  the  verb  branched  forth,  but 
from  which  the  other  classes  of  words  and  parts 
of  speech  were  gradually  formed.  This  hypo- 
thesis has  been  advocated  by  others,  only  with 
this  difference,  that  they  imagine  that  savages 
who  had  never  been  taught  to  speak  would, 
when  they  met  in  the  chase  or  in  fishing  expe- 
ditions, endeavour  to  make  their  sentiments 
intelligible  to  each  other  by  uttering  certain 
sounds,  whenever  they  meant  to  denote  visible 
objects,  and  would  thus  begin  to  give  names  to 
things  ;  after  which,  they  would  classify  indivi- 
duals under  a  species  denoted  by  a  common 
name,  and  then  proceed  gradually  to  the  for- 
mation of  all  the  other  parts  of  speech. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  57 

The  great  champion  of  this  theory,  in  its  most 
objectionable  form,  was  Lord  Monboddo,  who 
has  sought  to  establish  it  by  the  most  reckless 
assumptions,  the  boldest  conjectures,  and  the 
most  contemptible  sophisms,  affecting  the  form  of* 
arguments.  He  asserts  that  man,  in  his  natural 
state,  is  a  mere  untamed  animal,  and  supposes 
that  he  at  first  possessed  the  countenance  and 
appendage  of  a  monkey,  but  that  education  has 
gradually  brought  him  to  his  present  erect  and 
intelligent  form.  To  prove  his  point,  he  cites  the 
opinions  of  Lucretius  and  Horace,  who  describe 
the  human  race  as  rising  from  the  earth,  mute 
and  savage.  He  quotes  descriptions  from  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus,  and  other  ancient  travellers,  in 
support  of  the  hypothesis  that  men  were  found 
in  this  state.  When  pressed  with  the  difficulty, 
that  there  could  be  no  rational  society  without 
language,  he  resorts  to  a  subterfuge,  and 
selects  examples  from  beavers  and  foxes ! 
Such  is  the  candour,  the  logic,  and  dignity  of 
the  chief  advocate  of  the  invention  of  speech. 

This  theory  of  the  origin  of  language  is  more 
worthy  of  the  ravings  of  an  insane  mind,  than 
of  the  calm  deductions  of  a  rational  creature. 
To  imagine  a  number  of  bipeds,  little  removed 
from  the  beasts  that  perish,  simultaneously 
smitten  with  a  desire  to  improve  their  mental 
and  moral  condition,  by  using  the  dormant 
faculty  of  speech,  exceeds  all  the  bounds  of  a 
moderate  credulity.  To  suppose  them  by  some 
inexplicable  method  assembling  to  express  this 
desire  to  each  other,  though  as  yet  no  word 
had  been   spoken,  vastly  augments  the  folly. 


58  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

And  then  to  think  of  their  adopting  a  language, 
however  rude,  and  resolving  on  henceforth 
employing  it,  instead  of  the  howl  or  bray, 
which  had  previously  served  their  purpose,  is 
the  climax  of  absurdity.  But  as  this  hypothesis 
is  supported  by  a  show  of  proof,  however  fal- 
lacious— by  an  array  of  authorities,  frequently 
garbled  or  misquoted — and  by  the  most  un- 
blushing assertions  of  its  truthfulness  —  it 
becomes  us  to  rebut  it  with  the  weapons  of 
reason,  to  which  edge  and  power  may  be  given 
by  a  reference  to  the  history  of  man,  as  con- 
tained in  the  book  of  God. 

And  here  we  wish  distinctly  to  observe,  that 
the  great  questions  involved  in  this  inquiry 
are  not  to  be  settled  by  the  authority  of  names, 
however  ancient  or  learned.  Still  we  do  not 
shrink  from  any  comparison  which  might  be 
instituted  between  the  writers  who  have 
maintained  opposing  theories  on  the  subject ; 
whether  the  investigation  has  respect  to  num- 
bers, or  to  the  weight  justly  attached  to  their 
opinions.  We  grant  that  some  ancient  heathen 
authors  imagined  that  language  was  earthly  in 
its  origin,  and  maintained,  with  Lucretius,* 
that  it  was  gradually  formed  by  savages  for 
mutual  convenience,  and  by  mutual  consent ; 
but  this  opinion  being  in  harmony  with  many 
of  their  grovelling  ideas,  now  discarded,  it  can 
have  but  little  weight  with  reflecting  men  in 
times  vastly  in  advance  of  the  darkness  of 
heathenism.  If  it  should  be  alleged  that  these 
authors  lived  nearer  to  the  sources  of  informa- 
Lib.  v.  1027,  8. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  59 

tion  than  we  do,  the  reply  is  obvious,  that 
they  had  no  means  of  acquiring  information 
on  the  subject  which  are  not  accessible  to  us. 
Besides,  the  preponderating  weight  of  opinion 
amongst  the  ancient  philosophers,  in  reality,  lies 
on  our  side  of  the  question.  Their  references  to 
it  are,  indeed,  few  ;  but  in  these  they  usually 
ascribe  the  origin  of  speech  to  the  gods.  They 
generally  held  that  language  was  coeval  with 
man ;  and  it  was  reserved  for  the  infidels  of 
Europe,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  to  describe 
it  as  a  human  invention.  Cicero,*  in  speaking 
of  the  original  state  of  man  as  brutish,  makes 
eloquence  the  instrument  by  which  social  insti- 
tutions were  established ;  clearly  implying  that 
he  thought  men,  even  in  that  state  of  degra- 
dation, possessed  the  power  of  language,  and 
consequently  the  means  of  intellectual  and 
moral  improvement.  Indeed,  nearly  all  the 
voices  of  antiquity  agree  in  this,  that  know- 
ledge in  general  is  derived  from  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  that,  by  parity  of  reason,  speech — as 
the  means  of  extending  that  knowledge — must 
claim  equally  a  Divine  origin. j" 

And  it  should  be  remembered,  that  if,  half 
a  century  since,  some  distinguished  persons 
among  the  literati  of  Europe  embraced  and 
advocated  the  theory  of  a  human  invention  of 
language,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  their 
aversion  to  Christianity,  and  to  revealed  reli- 
gion in  general,  led  them  but  too  readily  to 

*  De  Inventione. 

t  Sea  Ellis  "  On  the  Knowledge  of  Divine  Things,"  who 
quotes  from  Plato  and  others,  to  this  effect. 


60  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

adopt  any  hypothesis,  upon  any  question  of 
history  and  science,  which  appeared  to  militate 
against  the  authority  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 
They  made  no  secret  of  their  deadly  hatred  to 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  any  scheme  of 
history,  or  of  interpretation,  which  promised 
to  be  a  means  of  impugning  its  veracity,  was 
unscrupulously  adopted  by  them. 

Moreover,  and  apart  from  all  reference  to 
the  alienated  state  of  mind  from  the  Bible,  in 
which  they  evidently  commenced  and  carried 
on  their  examinations  of  our  subject,  it  is  not 
to  the  opinions  of  Volney,  Monboddo,  and 
Adam  Smith,  that  we  are  called,  by  the  reason 
of  the  case,  to  submit  our  judgment,  as  they 
lived  at  a  time  when  the  true  principles  of 
philological  comparison  were  not  generally 
understood,  nor  even  extensively  propounded. 
They  had  no  such  means  of  arriving  at  a  just 
conclusion  on  the  subject  in  debate,  as  are 
furnished  by  recent  investigations  to  the  most 
slender  scholar.  All  the  persons  who  have 
most  profoundly  studied  the  question  have 
arrived — and  that,  in  many  cases,  without  any 
respect  to  the  authority  of  revelation — at  a  con- 
clusion diametrically  opposed  to  that  of  flippant 
infidel  writers,  but  to  one  in  general  harmony 
with  the  Scripture  narrative.  Now,  as  an 
intelligent  writer  on  astronomy  would  be  a 
better  authority  on  that  science,  coming  after 
the  discoveries  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  ;  or  on  the 
nebular  hypothesis,  if  writing  after  the  observa- 
tions made  by  Lord  Rosse's  telescope,  than 
would  a  person  of  equal  intelligence  who  went 


OF  LANGUAGE.  fil 

before  ;  so,  other  things  being  equal,  the  opin- 
ions of  modern  writers  on  the  origin  of 
language  are  of  more  value  than  those  of 
persons  who  wrote  previously  to  the  dis- 
coveries of  Humboldt,  Adelung,  Vater,  and 
others,  their  fellow-labourers. 

The  boasted  authority  of  infidelity  for  the 
invention  of  language  thus  falls  to  pieces.  But, 
as  we  have  said,  the  question  is  not  to  be  de- 
termined by  names,  but  by  arguments  derived 
from  the  facts  of  history,  sacred  and  profane, 
and  from  the  nature  of  the  case.  Our  opponents 
give  us,  indeed,  but  little  in  the  shape  of  argu- 
ment to  demolish,  but,  in  its  stead,  present  to  us 
the  most  dogmatic  statements  of  improbabilities, 
which  they  require  us  to  regard  as  well-ascer- 
tained facts.  To  these,  and  to  the  objection- 
able principles  involved  in  their  theory,  we 
now  proceed  to  direct  our  best  attention. 


62  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Objections  to  the  theory  that  language  is  a  human  invention 
— No  period  can  be  assigned  to  its  invention— If  invented, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  there  would  be  some  record 
of  it— The  strong  improbability  of  men  inventing  it— The 
relative  perfection  of  the  most  ancient  languages— Their 
independence  in  structure  of  the  advances  of  civilization — 
The  physical  impossibility  of  inventing  speech — Language 
indispensable  to  some  of  the  ends  of  man's  creation — Phy- 
sical construction  of  the  organs  of  speech — Harmony  of 
Divine  wisdom  and  benevolence  in  the  entire  creation— The 
savage  state  is  not  the  natural  condition  of  mankind- 
Causes  which  have  promoted  or  retarded  social  improve- 
ment. 

As  our  first  objection  to  this  notion  of  language 
having  been  invented  by  the  ingenuity  of  man 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  his  advancing  nature. 
we  confidently  state,  that  no  period  has  ever 
been  assigned  by  its  advocates  as  the  one  in 
which  it  probably  originated.  The  recorded 
history  of  man  stretches  backward  over  a  line 
which  embraces,  not  merely  centuries,  but 
thousands  of  years,  and  the  traditional  recol- 
lections of  many  nations  ascend  upward  to  a 
time  still  more  remote ;  yet  in  the  written  or 
unwritten  traditions  of  all  these  communities 
no  era  is  marked  as  the  one  when  this  wonder- 
ful power  took  its  rise.  The  memory  of  events 
far  less  important  to  these  nations  is  retained 
and  cherished,  but  all  of  them  are  silent  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  speech.     The  invention  o^ 


OF  LANGUAGE.  63 

printing  in  Europe,  and  the  introduction  of 
letters  to  some  ancient  as  well  as  modern 
nations,  when  emerging  from  barbarism,  are 
narrated  as  interesting  and  unquestioned  facts, 
and  rival  claims  have  even  been  set  up  for  the 
honour  of  introducing  the  one  and  the  other  ; 
but  no  solitary  claimant  appears  for  the  un- 
rivalled distinction  of  having  conferred  this 
inestimable  boon  upon  his  species.  The 
periods  when  some  of  the  arts  and  sciences 
sprang  up,  flourished,  or  decayed,  are  inscribed 
on  the  roll  of  history ;  but  no  note  is  taken  of 
the  time  when  men  began  to  speak,  nor  of  the 
method  by  which  they  acquired  that  wonderful 
power.  This  is  a  negative  argument  which 
none  will  call  in  question. 

Now  it  is  preposterous  to  imagine  that  so 
great  an  epoch  in  the  career  of  any  nation,  as 
that  which  would  have  been  created  by  the 
discovery  of  language,  should  have  passed 
over  it  without  leaving  some  memorial  of  itself, 
in  the  grateful  recollections  of  subsequent  ages. 
If  language  owned  a  human  inventor,  it  is  next 
to  impossible,  that  no  traces  of  the  master  mind 
which  laid  the  whole  human  race  under  such 
imperishable  obligations  should  now  exist  ; 
but,  though  we  should  travel  over  the  whole 
range  of  man's  history,  searching  all  the 
archives  of  the  past,  and  interrogating  all  the 
oracles  of  existing  intelligence,  we  nowhere 
find  any  vestiges  of  such  a  benefactor  or  bene- 
factors of  the  human  race.  The  conclusion,  in 
tne  absence  of  all  incidents  that  could  invali- 
date it,  appears  to  be  inevitable,  that  language  is 


64  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

an  indispensable  attendant  of  man's  existence  ; 
that  no  community  of  human  beings  ever  lived 
without  it ;  that  it  would  be  as  wise  to  inquire 
when  man  began  to  see  or  hear,  as  to  ask  when 
he  began  to  speak  ;  and  that  God,  who  con- 
ferred on  him  the  gift  of  reason,  at  the  same 
time  bestowed  on  him  the  power  of  speech,  as 
the  channel  through  which  his  reasoning 
powers  should  flow  and  act. 

This  conclusion  is  strengthened  by  the  great 
improbability  of  men  in  a  savage  state,  or, 
indeed,  in  any  state,  being  capable  of  inventing 
language.  There  are,  unquestionably,  many 
wondrous  things  which  man  can  do,  and  there 
are  many  other  things  which  as  clearly  lie  be- 
yond the  province  of  his  most  exalted  powers; 
and  this  appears,  without  any  reasonable  doubt, 
to  be  included  amongst  the  things  he  can- 
not accomplish.  There  are  individuals  who, 
in  regard  to  particular  subjects  and  operations, 
possess,  instinctively,  that  discernment  and 
facility  of  acting,  which,  in  the  generality  of 
cases,  are  the  results  of  habits  acquired  only  by 
long  and  laborious  exercises.  Thus  some  per- 
sons, in  early  years,  almost  intuitively  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  music,  and  even  compose  very 
difficult  pieces.  Others  have  mastered,  by  a 
speedy  or  instantaneous  operation  of  the  mind, 
very  abstruse  questions  in  arithmetic  ;  while 
others  have  a  wondrous  aptitude  to  compre- 
hend and  to  solve  mathematical  problems. 
And  in  reference  to  the  subject  more  imme- 
diately under  our  consideration,  there  are  ex- 
amples on  record  of  individuals,  who  attained  a 


OF  LANGUAGE.  65 

knowledge  of  several  languages  in  early  life 
with  the  most  wonderful  facility.  Superior 
skill  in  invention  has  characterized  other  minds 
in  a  no  less  extraordinary  degree;  yet  amongst 
all  these  no  one  has  ever  arisen,  who  discovered 
an  aptitude  for  the  invention  of  a  new  language. 
We  have  yet  to  learn  that  man,  in  the  most 
favoured  circumstances  of  earth,  is  competent 
for  the  undertaking. 

There  is  no  fact,  in  the  ascertained  history  of 
our  race,  which  would  favour  the  notion  that 
the  idea  of  speech  originated  with  man — that 
he  laid  its  foundation,  or  reared  its  glorious 
architecture.  On  the  contrary,  all  the  existing 
testimonies,  furnished  by  the  history  of  lan- 
guages, decidedly  discourage  the  idea.  If  it 
were  otherwise,  we  might  expect  a  gradual 
improvement  in  the  grammatical  structure  of  a 
language ;  and  to  find  some  tribes  at  least,  in 
the  lowest  stages  of  civilization,  using  nothing 
but  interjectional  words,  or  employing  language 
incapable  of  being  reduced  to  anything  ap- 
proaching to  grammatical  forms.  The  very 
reverse  of  this  state  of  things  is,  however, 
realized.  We  find,  on  comparison,  that  the 
ancient  languages  are  usually  the  most  perfect, 
mid  have  the  greatest  number  of  inflexions,  as 
in  ay  be  seen  by  comparing  the  Sanscrit  with 
the  Greek,  and  the  Latin  with  the  Italian. 
This  opinion  is  supported  by  the  decisions  of 
the  most  competent  scholars.  "  If  any  one 
thing,1'*  says  Mr.  Donaldson,  "  more  than 
*  New  Cratylus,  1).  i.  ch.  3,  p.  52. 
6* 


bU  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

another,  can  show  the  absurdity  of  those  who 
speak  of  an  invented  language,  it  is  simply  tins 
fact,  that  the  oldest  languages  are  always  tne 
richest  in  materials,  the  most  perfect  in  analogy, 
the  most  uniform  in  etymological  structure. 
Philology,  too,  instructs  us  that  those  very 
words,  which  the  advocates  for  an  invented 
language  consider  the  most  difficult  to  invent, 
and,  therefore,  as  the  last  introduced,  are,  in 
fact,  the  basis  of  all  language  ;  for  instance, 
the  pronouns  and  numerals,  which  Adam  Smith 
considers  of  recent  introduction,  are  known  to 
have  been  the  oldest  parts  of  every  tongue,  for 
it  is  just  these  words  which  retain  their  identity 
in  languages  which  have  been  longest  separate, 
and  have,  therefore,  become  most  unlike  in 
other  particulars.  The  effect  of  increased  use 
upon  the  structure  of  inflected  language  is 
rather  to  weaken  and  corrupt,  than  to  improve 
and  amplify." 

There  is  no  evading  the  force  of  these  strik- 
ing facts  by  assuming  that  the  older  known 
languages  sprang  out  of  others,  rude  and  less 
perfect ;  for  the  most  barbarous  tribes,  hitherto 
discovered,  are  found  to  possess  not  only  the 
faculty  of  speech,  but  a  regular  system  of 
vocables,  presenting  to  the  philologist  a  sym- 
metrical language,  realizing  all  the  organic 
attributes  of  the  most  polished  tongues.  Ample 
illustration  of  this  is  supplied  in  works,  pub- 
lished by  Christian  missionaries,  relating  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Sandwich,  the  Samoan, 
and  other  islands  of  the  South  Pacific  ocean,  and 
to  the  Bechuana,  and  other  barbarous  tribes 


OF  LANGUAGE.  0/ 

of  Southern  Africa,  into  whose  languages  ele- 
mentary books,  and  even  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
have  been  translated  without  difficult}'',  as  they 
were  found  to  furnish  words  adequate  to  repre- 
sent all  the  truths  which  these  books  contain. 

The  structure  of  language  is  evidently  inde- 
pendent of  the  stages  of  civilization,  for  we  find 
in  the  grammars  of  some  barbarous  languages 
a  framework  as  perfect  as  in  that  of  the  most 
polished  nations  ;  and  it  would  be  impossible 
to  invent,  or  to  bring  into  their  construction,  an 
additional  part  of  speech.  The  principal  dif- 
ference in  existing  languages,  even  amongst 
those  the  most  remote  from  each  other,  is  found 
in  their  relative  copiousness  of  terms,  or  com- 
parative harmony  of  sounds,  in  which  some 
modern  languages  may  have  the  advantage  ; 
though  this  is  often  gained  at  the  expense 
of  some  of  the  more  valuable,  qualities  of 
language.  The  speech  of  natives  in  a  state 
of  rude  simplicity  would  stream  freely  from 
the  breast,  swelling  with  redundancy  of  ex- 
pression, replete  with  the  richest  and  most 
significant  compounds,  and  ever  bursting  forth 
into  melody  and  song.  "  The  pride  of  litera- 
ture," says  an  acute  anonymous  writer,  in 
the  Cambridge  Philological  Museum,*  "  is 
sadly  humbled  when  we  examine  the  rustic 
dialects,  whether  of  our  own  or  of  any  other 
tongue,  and  perceive  how  very  slight  and 
minute  is  the  influence  exercised  by  books, 
even  in  the  course  of  many  centuries,  on  the 

*  Vol.  ii.  p.  248. 


68  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

spoken  language  of  the  people.  A  few  extra- 
neous words  will  now  and  then  take  root  among 
them  ;  but  even  if  you  sow  the  finest  pippin  it 
comes  up  in  the  shape  of  a  crab.  So  far  are 
the  lower  orders  from  borrowing  grammatical 
forms  from  the  higher,  that  the  very  words 
which  they  do  adopt  they  almost  always  dis- 
figure and  distort,  in  order  to  bring  them  under 
the  analogies  they  themselves  are  wont  to  be 
guided  by." 

The  impossibility  of  inventing  language  is 
hot  in  any  degree  removed  by  the  supposition 
that  ages,  or  even  thousands  of  years,  were 
•dlowed  for  its  accomplishment.  Jean  Jacques 
I'ousseau — whose  opinions  on  the  theoretical 
history  of  language  are  entitled  to  some  regard, 
and  who  was  himself  far  removed  from  any 
suspicion  of  a  desire  unfairly  to  uphold  the 
credit  of  the  Bible — has  said,  "  If  language  be 
the  result  of  human  convention,  and  if  words  be 
essential  to  the  exercise  of  thought,  language 
would  appear  to  be  necessary  for  the  invention 
of  language.  But  when,  by  means  which  I  can- 
not conceive,  our  new  grammarians  began  to 
extend  their  ideas,  and  to  generalize  their  words, 
their  ignorance  must  have  confined  them  within 
very  narrow  limits.  I  stop  at  these  first  steps, 
and  intreat  my  judges  to  pause  and  consider  the 
distance  between  the  easiest  part  of  language, 
the  invention  of  physical  substances,  and  the 
power  of  expressing  all  the  thoughts  of  man, 
so  as  to  speak  in  public  and  influence  society. 
I  intreat  them  to  reflect  on  the  time  and 
knowledge  it  must  have  required  to  discover 


OF  LANGUAGE.  69 

numbers,  abstract  words,  aorists  and  all  the 
tenses  of  verbs,  particles,  syntax,  the  art  of 
connecting  propositions  and  arguments,  and 
how  to  form  the  whole  logic  of  discourse.  As 
for  myself,  alarmed  at  these  multiplying  diffi- 
culties, and  convinced  of  the  almost  demon- 
strable impossibility  of  language  having  been 
framed  and  established  by  means  merely 
human,  I  leave  to  others  the  discussion  of  the 
problem,  whether  a  society  already  formed  was 
more  necessary  for  the  institution  of  language, 
or  a  language  already  invented  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  society  ?  "  * 

The  ordinary  circumstances  and  phenomena 
which  gather  around  the  history  of  language 
all  tend  to  invalidate  the  hypothesis  of  its 
invention.  For  instance,  it  is  just  possible  for 
a  person  to  lose  the  art  of  speech,  by  omitting 
to  employ  it.  A  language  imperfectly  learned 
may  be  readily  forgotten  ;  and  it  is  only  with 
extreme  industry  and  perseverance  that  a  man 
advanced  in  life  can  overcome  the  difficulties 
of  learning  a  new  language,  so  as  to  speak  ir, 
with  anything  like  propriety  and  fluency. 
How,  then,  could  the  uncivilized  learn  of  them- 
selves to  speak  ?  It  is  true  that  there  are 
some  few  instances  on  record  of  individuals 
who  were  born  dumb  being  taught  to  speak  ; 
but  the  difficulties  of  the  attainment  were  over- 
come by  skilful  masters,  who  moulded  the 
organs  of  speech,  and  taught  their  pupils,  by 
imitation,  to    articulate  words.     There  could, 

*  Quoted  in  the  Dissertations  of  the  Encyclopaedia  B:£&i* 
siiea,  4to.,  p.  174. 


70  THE  ORIGIN  ANI>  PROGRESS 

however,  have  been  no  one  to  do  this  for  the 
assumed  inventors  of  speech,  as  all  must  have 
been  alike  ignorant  of  the  means  by  which 
articulation  is  effected.  "  The  experiment," 
says  a  judicious  writer,  "has  been  made  more 
than  once,  of  training  up  children  separate 
from  the  society  of  men  ;  and  the  event  has 
been,  that  they  talked  no  language  at  all ;  they 
could  not  so  much  as  articulate,  nor  utter  any 
more  sounds  than  deaf  and  dumb  persons  can 
do ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that,  with- 
out the  Divine  instruction  at  first,  and  human 
instruction  since,  men  would  have  continued 
mutton  et  turpe  pecus,  little  superior  to  the 
beasts  of  the  field."*  The  instance  mentioned 
by  Herodotus  f  is  no  real  exception  to  this 
invariable  result ;  while  the  case  recorded  by 
Purchas,J  and  the  more  recent  one  of  a  savage, 
who  never  learned  to  speak,  though  placed 
under  suitable  instructors  in  the  deaf  and  dumb 
school  of  Paris,  confirm  this  statement. 

The  physical  impossibility  of  men  inventing 
speech  has  been  well  described  by  several 
writers,  and  among  them  by  Dr.  Sumner,  the 
present  learned  and  pious  primate  of  England. 
He  says,  "  Whoever  has  watched  the  progress 
of  speech  in  children,  will  have  found  that  it  is 
not  dependent  upon  the  gradual  enlargement  of 
their  ideas,  since  they  always  understand  much 
more,  and  earlier,  than  they  can  express  ;  but 
upon  the  facility,  acquired  by  degrees,  of  adapt  - 
ing  the  organs  of  speech  to  the  expression  oi 

*  Dr.  M'GilTs  Rhetoric,  p.  8.  f  Lib.  ii.  cap.  2. 

t  Jesuits'  Letters. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  71 

-certain  sounds."  *  And  Dr.  Johnson  is  reported 
by  Bos  well  characteristically  to  have  said, 
"  Language  must  have  come  by  inspiration.  A 
thousand,  nay,  a  million,  of  children  could  not 
invent  a  language.  While  the  organs  are 
pliable,  there  is  not  understanding  enough  ; 
and  by  the  time  there  is  understanding  enough, 
the  organs  have  become  too  stiff.  Inspiration 
seems  to  me  to  be  necessary  to  give  the  man 
the  faculty  of  speech,  and  to  inform  him  that, 
he  may  have  speech,  which,  I  think,  he  could 
no  more  find  out  without  inspiration  than  cows 
or  hogs." 

These  statements  and  reasonings  appear  to 
us  to  be  conclusive,  and  their  weight  is  greatly 
increased  by  the  fact,  that  they  apply  with 
much  greater  force  to  man  in  a  savage  state 
than  in  a  civilized  condition.  We  are,  doubt- 
less, entitled  to  ask,  Do  barbarous  men,  or 
savages,  invent  languages,  or  even  create  ori- 
ginal words  now  ?  And  if  not,  when  did  the 
process  cease  ?  and  why  ?  The  fact  is,  that  it 
appears  to  be  almost  as  practicable  for  man, 
whether  savage  or  civilized,  to  create  a  particle 
of  new  matter,  or  to  form  a  sixth  sense,  as  to 
invent  a  fresh  verbal  root,  and  to  secure,  its 
general  adoption.  And  if  unable  to  do  that 
which  is  less,  how  can  he  do  that  which  is 
vastly  greater?  Experience  and  observation 
teach  us  that  it  is  much  easier  to  improve,  than 
to  invent,  and  by  this  our  conviction  is  strength- 
ened that  it  is  impossible  for  man,  in  a  savage 
state,  to  possess  the  intelligence  and  ingenuity 
*  Records  of  Creation,  vol.  i.  p.  44. 


72  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

involved  in  the  construction  of  the  most  imper- 
fect jargon  that  has  ever  been  dignified  with 
the  name  of  a  language.  Indeed,  before  we 
could  yield  our  assent  to  the  possibility  of  an 
invention  of  language,  we  should  require  to  be 
shown,  either  a  species  of  animated  beings 
which,  not  being  naturally  endowed  with 
speech,  has  supplied  the  defect  for  itself;  or,  a 
species  which,  having  the  power  of  articulate 
speech,  does  not  possess  an  actual  language. 
As  we  have  no  expectation  of  meeting  with 
either  of  these  phenomena,  we  unhesitatingly 
reject  a  doctrine,  which,  for  self-evident  ab- 
surdity, is  only  equalled  by  the  theory  of 
spontaneous  physical  development,  to  which  it 
appears  closely  allied,  as  we  shall  presently 
perceive. 

Still  further,  our  objections  to  this  theory 
rest  not  even  here,  for  it  is  assumed  by  the 
hypothesis  we  are  combatting,  that  the  human 
species  was  brought  into  being  in  such  a  state 
as  to  make  it  an  exception  to  the  perfect  con- 
dition in  which  all  other  creatures  came  out  of 
the  hand  of  God.  The  entire  absence  of  arti- 
culate language,  on  the  part  of  man,  would 
have  placed  him  in  circumstances  so  incon- 
gruous to  his  exalted  rank  in  creation,  as  to  be 
at  variance,  with  all  the  just  conceptions  we  are 
compelled  to  entertain  of  the  wisdom,  power, 
and  goodness  of  God,  as  displayed  in  all  the 
other  departments  in  which  his  creative  energy 
has  been  observed.  An  examination  of  the 
wide  and  diversified  field  of  nature,  so  far  as 
we  have  surveyed  it,  convinces  us  that  every 


OF  LANGUAGE.  73 

organized  and  living  thing,  above,  beneath,  and 
around  us,  is  qualified  for  its  end,  and  fitted  to 
realize  the  design  of  its  being.  It  appears  to 
us,  that  it  would  have  been  a  violation  of  the 
unity  and  harmony  thus  pervading  the  universe, 
if  man  had  been  constituted  an  exception  to  all 
the  other  productions  of  Divine  wisdom  and 
benevolence,  by  being  left  to  work  out,  through 
a  tedious  process  of  generalization,  a  vehicle  of 
utterance  for  the  dictates  of  his  understanding, 
and  for  the  desires  of  his  heart.  Though 
possessed  of  a  superior  nature,  he  would  have 
been  incapable,  till  this  uncertain  work  was 
accomplished,  of  giving  expression  to  any 
emotions  loftier  or  purer  than  those  which  he 
possessed  in  common  with  the  brutes  that 
perish ;  and  to  indulge  the  notion  that  such  was 
the  fact  would  be  "  to  charge  God  foolishly." 

Nor  is  this  all;  for, on  this  supposition,  brutes 
were  dealt  with  more  favourably  than  man,  as 
they  were  enabled  more  readily,  and  without 
any  degree  of  uncertainty,  to  reach  all  the  ends 
of  their  creation  ;  while  it  is  assumed  that  for 
ages  men  were  unable  to  realize  some  of  the 
great  objects  for  which  they  were  constitu- 
tionally intended.  From  the  beginning,  man 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  this  lower  world, 
and  invested  with  mental  endowments  far  be- 
yond mere  animal  life  and  sensation,  however 
delicate ;  and  beyond  instinct,  however  won- 
derful. He  was  possessed  of  a  rational  and 
social  nature,  which  is  indicated  by  the  intelli- 
gence of  his  countenance,  and  the  warm  and 
7 


74  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

friendly  emotions  of  his  heart.  Yet,  without 
the  gift  of  speech,  most  of  this  capacity  would 
have  been  lavished  upon  him  in  vain.  Socially, 
it  would  have  been  of  no  advantage  that  the 
first  human  pair  had  powers  of  intellect  to  con- 
template the  beauties  of  external  nature,  and 
to  make  observations  upon  them,  if  they  had 
not  the  power  of  expressing  to  each  other  their 
sense  of  the  great  happiness  they  possessed. 
k<  All  the  brute  creatures  had  their  natural 
language  adapted  to  their  several  organs,  and 
understood,  by  instinct,  from  the  beginning. 
And  can  we  think  that  man,  who  was  more 
(specially  made  for  society,  should  be  the  last 
to  share  in  the  privileges  of  it?"* 

The  vocal  organs  in  the  human  subject  are 
clearly  constituted  with  a  view  to  the  utter- 
ances of  the  voice.  The  larynx,  epiglottis, 
pharynx,  tongue,  palate,  and  lips,  are  all  framed 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  show,  incontestibly,  that 
they  were  designed  for  producing  such  sounds 
as  we  employ  in  articulation.  The  original 
possession  of  a  physical  conformation,  so  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  the  formation  of  articulate 
sounds,  certainly  indicates  that  God  blessed 
man  with  the  power  of  speech  immediately  upon 
his  creation,  and  furnished  him  with  the  ability 
to  exert  these  organs  to  their  proper  end.  If  it 
be  worthy  of  God  to  provide  the  minutest  in- 
sect with  the  means  of  obtaining  its  sustenance, 
and  with  the  instinct  necessary  for  its  pre- 
servation, it  is  at  least  equally  worthy  of  his 
benevolent  wisdom  to  have  enabled  the  highest 
•  Winder's  History  of  Knowledge,  vol.  i.  p.  11. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  75 

creature  under  heaven,  made  only  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels,  to  perform  at  once  the  greatest 
ends  of  his  being.  "  The  use  of  language 
would  be  immediately  necessary  for  the  tolera- 
ble accommodation  of  human  society  ;  what  is 
requisite  for  us  now  must  have  been  so  for 
them  ;  and  it  is  plain  we  can  have  very  little 
mutual  satisfaction  without  conversation."* 

On  the  principle  for  which  we  contend,  we 
discover  a  beautiful  harmony  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  Creation  and  Providence,  in  making 
adequate  provision  for  the  wants  of  our  animal 
and  rational  nature.  When  the  Almighty  fur- 
nished man  with  a  desire  for  food,  and  with 
proper  organs  to  masticate  and  to  digest  it,  he 
did  not  leave  him  painfully  to  seek  for  the  neces- 
sary supply,  but  placed  him  at  once  in  the  midst 
of  a  rich  and  plentiful  variety.  "  And  out  of  the 
ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree 
that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food. 
And  the  Lord  God  commanded  the  man,  say- 
ing, Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayest 
freely  eat."t  In  like  manner  we  reason  that, 
when  God  endowed  him  with  powers  which 
could  find  their  appropriate  exercise  only  in 
the  communication  of  thoughts  to  his  equals,  or 
in  the  expression  of  devout  gratitude  to  his 
Maker,  he  did  not  leave  him  and  his  descend- 
ants to  labour,  doubtfully,  for  ages,  to  invent  the 
medium  of  such  utterances,  but  blessed  him  at 
once  with  the  capacity  he  required,  and  fur- 
nished him  with  knowledge,  directing  him  to 
the  right  use  of  faculties  worthy  of  his  cha- 
*  Dr.  Winder,  vol.  i.  p.  9.  f  Genesis  ii.  9, 16. 


76  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

racier  and  position,  as  the  great  proto-type  of 
the  human  race. 

The  theory  of  invented  language  is  built 
upon  an  assumption  utterly  baseless  and  un- 
true. Its  advocates  insinuate,  or  take  for 
granted,  the  notion  that  the  lowest  state  of 
human  existence  was  the  starting  point  of 
every  nation  of  the  earth.  This  opinion  meets 
with  no  sort  of  countenance  from  universal 
history,  nor  from  the  history  of  any  particular 
community  with  which  we  are  familiar,  but 
the  contrary.  We  have  no  authenticated  in- 
stance of  any  tribe  emerging  from  a  savage  to 
a  civilized  state  by  its  own  unaided  energies. 
The  writers  to  whom  we  except  have  taught, 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  only  authoritative 
statement  on  the  subject,  that  man  was  created 
in  the  lowest  condition  of  savage  life,  that  his 
religion  was  the  rudest  worship  of  nature,  and 
his  morality  that  of  the  cannibal.  All  civilized 
nations  are  represented,  by  their  hypothesis,  as 
having  risen  from  this  point,  and  gradually 
passed,  through  barbarism  and  polytheism,  to 
social  refinement  and  the  worship  of  the  true 
God.  A  figure,  involving  a  fallacy,  has  been 
used  to  obtain  consent  to  this  theory.  The 
similitude  of  an  individual  passing  through 
infancy  and  childhood  to  youth,  and  to  the  per- 
fection of  manhood,  through  successive  stages 
of  being,  in  which  the  feeblest  moral  powers 
and  rhe  strongest  passions  are  exhibited,  is  not 
a  correct  figure  by  which  to  portray  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  progress  of  the  race.  As  no 
historical  nor  other  proof  is  offered  to  establish 


OF  LANGUAGE.  77 

this  hypothesis,  we  reject  it,  and  incline  to  the 
belief  that,  if  men  had  been  created  savages, 
they  would  have  remained  such.  The  fact,  that 
human  beings  are  found  in  a  savage  state, 
proves  nothing  against  this  view  of  the  subject, 
because  it  is  well  known  that  men  and  com- 
munities retrograde  as  well  as  advance  in  the 
career  of  civilization  ;  and  are  deteriorated 
quite  as  readily,  to  say  the  least,  as  they  are 
improved  by  the  influence  of  circumstances. 

As  no  good  reason  hitherto  has  been  afforded, 
so  we  apprehend  that  none  can  now  be  given, 
to  show  that  the  first  state  of  mankind  must 
have  been  the  lowest  position  of  humanity, 
and  that  society  commenced  its  progress  from 
the  most  dismal  and  wretched  of  all  earthly 
conditions.  We  are  bold  to  affirm,  on  the  tes- 
timony of  revealed  truth,  that  the  savage  state 
is  not  the  natural  state  of  man.  Indeed,  it  is 
evident  that  he  is  fitted  and  designed,  by  his 
original  formation,  for  nobler  ends  than  that 
state  implies.  It  is  every  way  reasonable  to 
conceive  that  he  was  created  with  intelligence 
vastly  superior  to  that  of  savage  life ;  that 
being  a  finite  and  dependent  creature,  he  has 
wandered  from  the  path  of  holiness  and  bliss, 
and  sunk,  intellectually,  as  he  has  degraded 
himself  morally,  in  the  scale  of  the  intelligent 
creation.  This  conception  harmonizes  with  the 
word  of  God,  from  whose  teachings  we  learn 
that  man  was  made  upright,  that  he  fell  from 
his  allegiance  to  his  Creator,  and  that  nations 
have  wandered  greatly  from  the  primitive  faith 
and  standard  of  morals  into  all  the  labyrinths 


78  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

of  heathen  error.  "  They  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge."  But  society,  in  its 
most  degraded  type,  could  not  long  have  existed 
without  speech  ;  and  the  notion  is  most  pre- 
posterous, as  we  have  shown,  that  it  could  have 
been  invented  by  parties  who  existed  without 
the  bounds  of  a  civilized  community.  It 
affords  us  pleasure  to  cite  from  the  writings  of 
John  Gottlieb  Fichte  a  sentiment  in  favour  of 
this  truth.  The  philosophy  of  that  distin- 
guished man  was  pantheistic,  and  exercised  a 
baneful  influence  on  the  rising  mind  of  Ger- 
many and  other  lands  ;  but  there  is,  happily, 
good  reason  to  believe,  that  several  years  be- 
fore his  death  he  renounced  his  philosophic 
atheism,  and  became  a  Christian.  lie  thus 
stated  his  conviction  of  the  primitive  state  of 
man.  "Who  educated  the  first  human  pair  ? 
A  Spirit  took  them  under  his  care  ;  as  is  laid 
laid  down  in  an  ancient,  venerable,  original 
document,  which  contains  the  deepest  and  sub- 
limed wisdom,  and  presents  results  to  which 
all  philosophy  must  at  last  return."* 

The  historical  facts,  which  may  appear  ad- 
verse to  our  interpretation  of  the  inspired  re- 
cord, are  in  reality  not  opposed  to  it.  Many 
nations  have  been  elevated  from  a  savage  con- 
dition to  a  lofty  standing  in  the  rank  of  culti- 
vated communities  ;  this  improvement,  how- 
ever, originated  not  in  their  own  enterprize, 
but  appears  to  have  sprung  from  the  influence 
of  individuals  or  colonies  belonging  to  nations 
more  intelligent  than  themselves.      Thus    the 

*  Dr.  Pye  Smith's  Lectures  on  Geology.   2nd.  eci.  p.  224. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  79 

aborigines  of  Greece  were  tamed,  and  had 
the  germs  of  civilization  implanted  in  their 
midst,  by  the  Pelasgi,  a  race  of  doubtful  origin, 
but  whose  power  on  the  destinies  of  that  com- 
munity for  good  is  unquestioned.  The  Romans 
were  advanced  in  the  earlier  stages  of  their 
improvement  by  foreign  aid  ;  and  their  con- 
quest of  Europe  paved  the  way  for  the  civiliza- 
tion of  its  barbarous  regions.  Our  own 
country  was  delivered  by  the  Roman  sword 
from  Druidism,  the  great  barrier  to  its  social 
and  religious  advancement,  and  had  some  of 
ks  foundations  of  prosperity  laid  even  during 
the  time  it  wore  the  Roman  yoke.  Some  bar- 
barous tribes  are  now  rapidly  rising  to  take 
their  place  in  the  great  family  of  civilized 
nations,  by  the  mercantile  and  Christian  influ- 
ence of  Great  Britain  and  other  enlightened 
nations.  Had  the  savage  state  been  natural  to 
man,  we  see  no  reason,  therefore,  to  doubt  that 
it  would  have  been  perpetual ;  but  it  bears  no 
evidence  of  having  been  the  original  state :  on 
the  contrary,  "  the  fine  sentiments  and  romantic 
traditions  which  gleam  through  the  fables  of 
men  found  in  the  lowest  stages  of  barbarous  life, 
point  to  a  purer  condition  in  a  departed  age."* 
Nothing  approaching  to  the  uniform  progress 
of  nations,  supposed  by  the  theory  we  oppose, 
has  been  realized.  Differences  of  national 
character,  in  distinct  families  of  the  human 
race,  have  immensely  advanced  or  retarded 
their  moral  and  intellectual  progress  ;  and  it  is 
equally  clear  that  the  physical  geography  of 
*  Dr.  Hamilton's  Nugae  Literariae,  p.  116. 


80  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  several  parts  of  the  earth  has  influenced  the 
happiness  and  greatness  of  their  respective 
inhabitants.  These  influences,  in  connexion 
with  the  results  of  the  religious  truth  or  error 
held  by  any  people,  fully  account,  under  the 
providential  arrangements  of  God,  for  the  rela- 
tive position  now  occupied  by  nations  and 
smaller  communities  on  the  scale  of  extended 
civilization.  That  distinguished  and  lamented 
man,  and  eminent  historian,  the  late  rev.  Dr. 
Arnold,  has  said,  "  The  boundless  and  unman- 
ageable mass  of  earth  presented  by  the  con- 
tinents of  Asia  and  Africa  has  caused  those 
parts  of  the  world  which  started  the  earliest  in 
the  race  of  civilization  to  remain  almost  at  the 
point  from  whence  they  set  out ;  while  Europe 
and  America,  penetrated  by  so  many  seas,  and 
communicating  with  them  by  so  many  rivers, 
have  been  subdued  to  the  uses  of  civilization, 
and  have  ministered  with  an  ever-growing 
power  to  their  children's  greatness.  Well, 
indeed,  might  the  policy  of  the  old  priest 
nobles  of  Egypt  and  India  endeavour  to  divert 
their  people  from  becoming  familiar  with  the 
sea,  and  represent  the  occupation  of  a  seaman 
as  incompatible  with  the  purity  of  the  highest 
castes !  The  sea  deserved  to  be  hated  by  the 
old  aristocracies,  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  the 
mightiest  instrument  in  the  civilization  of  man- 
kind. In  the  depth  of  winter,  when  the  sky  is 
covered  with  clouds,  and  the  land  presents  one 
cold,  blank,  and  lifeless  surface  of  snow,  how 
refreshing  is  it  to  the  spirits  to  walk  uj  on  the 
shore,  and  to  enjoy  the  freshness  and  liveliness 


OF  LANGUAGE.      .  81 

of  the  ocean  !  Even  so  in  the  deepest  winter  of 
the  human  race,  when  the  earth  was  but  one 
chilling  expanse  of  inactivity,  life  was  stirring 
in  the  waters.  There  began  that  spirit  whose 
genial  influence  has  now  reached  to  the  land, 
has  broken  the  chains  of  winter,  and  covered 
the  face  of  the  earth  with  beauty."*  We  will 
not  detract  from  the  force  of  this  exquisite 
passage  by  any  comment ;  but  content  our- 
selves with  adding,  that  those  nations  who 
are  most  favoured  by  their  natural  position,  as 
Great  Britain  obviously  is,  are  laid  under 
strong  obligation  to  render  their  best  assistance 
to  those  whose  lot  is  less  happy  and  less  pro- 
mising. It  is  a  circumstance,  on  the  whole, 
highly  favourable  to  the  interests  of  humanity 
and  religion,  that  English  institutions  and  Bri- 
tish influence  are  extending  themselves  in  every 
part  of  the  earth. 

*  Note  on  the  Progress  of  States,  appended  to  the  first 
volume  of  the  Edition  of  Thucydides. 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 


CHAPTER   V. 

Continuation  of  objections  to  the  invention  of  language— 
The  theory  is  opposed  to  the  statements  of  the  sacred 
writings — Authority  and  value  of  the  Penlateuch,  or 
five  books  of  Moses— Substance  of  its  statements  on  this 
subject— Notices  of  man  when  created— In  his  abode, 
employment,  social  relation,  and  religious  character — 
Inference  as  to  the  possession  of  speech  —  Scriptural 
proof  of  the  advanced  civilization  of  the  early  patriarchs 
—Their  existence  as  communities  required  the  use  of 
language— Strength  of  this  argument— Rapid  improve- 
ment of  mankind— Conclusions  deduced  from  it. 

Our  ultimate  appeal,  on  that  particular  branch 
of  the  subject  which  has  now  passed  under 
review,  as  on  all  the  other  points  which  it 
involves,  is  to  the  authoritative  statements  of 
the  Bible.  Happily  for  our  present  argument, 
we  are  not  only  able  to  invalidate  the  dogmatic 
assertions  of  sceptical  writers  on  this  point  by 
such  considerations  as  those  we  have  adduced, 
but  we  are  in  a  condition  to  prove  that,  so  far 
from  the  savage  state  being  that  of  our  first 
progenitors,  they  were  created  in  such  circum- 
stances as  to  demonstrate  their  having  possessed 
the  power  of  speech,  and  the  knowledge  of 
language. 

On  the  authority  of  the  Mosaic  record,  we 
learn  that  the  founders  of  our  race  were  brought 
into  the  world  in  the  full  maturity  and  per- 
fection of  their  nature  ;  made,  as  they  were, 
intellectually  and  morally  in  the  image  of  God- 


OF  LANGUAGE.  83 

Apart  from  the  inspiration  of  the  writings  of 
Moses,  that  great  prophet  and  legislator  of 
Israel,  there  are  many  circumstances  which 
challenge  the  attention  and  homage  of  mankind 
to  him  as  the  historian  of  the.  earliest  ages. 
His  history  "  merits  our  greatest  veneration  on 
every  account  which  makes  history  valuable. 
Whether  we  consider  the  high  antiquity  of  its 
dates  ;  or  the  vast  importance  of  his  materials  ; 
or  the  exactness  of  his  chronology  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world  to  his  own  times ;  or  the 
perfection  of  his  intelligence. 

"  The  learned  pagans  distinguished  all  past 
time  into  three  divisions ;  the  hidden,  the 
mythic,  and  historic  time.  But  where  is  the 
unknown  time  of  Moses  ?  Where  is  his  mythic 
or  fabulous  time  ?  He  is  altogether  as  clear  in 
his  accounts  of  the  creation  as  of  the  flood ;  and 
the  plantation  of  the  antediluvian,  as  of  the 
postdiluvian,  world.'1*' 

Moses  has  been  termed — with  far  more  pro- 
priety than  Herodotus  was — "  the  father  of 
history."  Sanchoniathon,  Berosus,  and  Ma- 
netho,  are  the  oldest  human  historians  ;  but 
Moses  wrote  "  five  hundred  years  before  the 
first,  and  more  than  a  thousand  before  the  last." 
I  lis  writings,  consequently,  are  the  only  com- 
petent authority  by  which  to  decide  the  primi- 
tive condition  of  the  race.  His  direct  and 
unhesitating  testimony  to  the  intelligence  and 
holiness  of  man,  when  created,  is  sustained  by 
the  traditional  recollections  and  impressions  of 
the  most  ancient  nations.     Interrogate  them  as 

*  Winder's  preface  to  History  of  Knowledge,  vol  i.  p.  vi, 


84  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

you  please,  in  reference  to  their  early  history, 
and  you  will  find  some  traces  of  an  impression 
that  their  fathers  lived  in  a  golden  age.  Many 
of  their  fables  seem  to  shadow  forth  the  fact,  as 
when  Minerva  is  represented  springing  full 
armed  from  the  head  of  Jupiter.  Some  of  their 
more  enlightened  philosophers,  as  Plato  and 
Socrates,  had  glimpses  of  this  truth.  Aratus 
of  Cilicia,  and  Cleanthes — in  his  noble  hymn — 
were  quoted  by  the  apostle  Paul  in  the  court  of 
Areopagus,  as  having  said  that  "  men  are  the 
offspring  of  God."* 

The  brief  authentic  account  of  the  original 
condition  of  man  given  in  the  Bible  will  only 
appear  meagre  and  unsatisfactory  to  a  super- 
ficial reader  of  that  inspired  and  invaluable 
record.  On  careful  examination,  it  will  be 
found  to  yield  a  variety  of  precious  hints  in 
reference  to  the  intellectual  condition  of  man 
when  he  came  out  of  the  hand  of  his  Creator. 
As  we  examine  his  condition  by  the  lamp  of 
revealed  truth,  we  shall  find  that — so  far  from 
being  cast  upon  the  world  to  perish  in  ignor- 
ance and  destitution,  or  to  work  his  way  up 
with  laborious  difficulty  and  uncertainty,  from 
the  disadvantageous  position  in  which  he  was 
placed — all  the  germs  of  the  loftiest  civilization 
resided  in  his  spirit,  or  surrounded  his  person. 
And  with  a  view  to  the  illustration  of  this  fact, 
we  shall  now  proceed  to  gather  up  those  scat- 
tered intimations,  which  are  contained  in  the 
earlier  pages  of  the  sacred  book,  concerning  the 
primeval  condition  of  man. 

*  Acts  xvii.  28. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  85 

The  place  previously  created  and  prepared 
for  the  abode  of  the  first  human  being  was  not 
the  lair  of  a  savage,  nor  the  desert  of  a  bar- 
barian, but  the  home  of  a  highly  civilized 
being.  Thus  we  read  in  Gen.  ii.  8,  "  The 
Lord  God  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden  ; 
and  there  he  put  the  man  whom  he  had 
formed."  While  we  are  unable  to  determine 
the  precise  locality  and  boundaries  within 
which  Paradise  was  situated,  we  have  reason  to 
conclude  that  it  was  in  the  fairest  part  of  the 
new-made  world.  And  it  is  unquestionably 
evident  that  the  productions,  animate  and 
inanimate,  of  the  garden  were  such  as  to 
minister  gratification  to  Adam,  as  a  being  far 
in  advance  of  barbarous  life,  for  "  Out  of 
the  ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every 
tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,"  Gen.  ii.  9. 
Placed  thus  in  the  midst  of  a  region  of  fertility, 
and  in  a  garden  presenting  exquisite  forms  of 
physical  beauty,  he  would  be,  to  a  certain 
extent,  divinely  instructed  in  the  use  of  nature, 
and  especially  in  the  properties  of  the  various 
fruits  assigned  for  his  support. 

The  activity  and  stated  employment  to  which 
the  first  man  was  introduced,  was  compatible 
only  with  the  attributes  of  a  civilized  being. 
God  had  ennobled  labour  by  his  own  works 
which  he  had  created  and  made,  and  he  sus- 
pended the  happiness  of  his  newly-formed 
creature  on  his  daily  service  ;  yet  this  was 
not  of  the  lowest  er  most  fatiguing  form.  He 
was  not  employed  to  hunt  the  beasts  of  the 
earth  and  to  live  on  prey,  but  was  engaged  as  a 
8 


86  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

cultivator  of  the  soil.  "  The  Lord  God  took 
the  man,  and  put  him  into  the  garden  of  Eden 
to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it,"  Gen.  ii.  15.  He  was 
not  to  he  a  wanderer  over  the  face  of  the  earth, 
but  to  possess  a  "  local  habitation,"  a  sure  and 
quiet  dwelling-place.  Accordingly,  we  read 
nothing  of  hunting  as  a  mode  of  supporting 
life,  till  the  days  of  Nimrod,  after  the  flood. 
Adam  did  not  pursue  a  wild  nomadic' calling, 
but  cultivated  a  garden  for  his  support,  drinking 
the  limpid  stream,  and  partaking  of  fruit — the 
prepared  bounty  and  recompense  of  his  labour. 
This  employment  supposes  the  use  of  suitable 
implements,  the  formation  of  which,  though  the 
simplest  description  alone  was  necessary,  would 
exercise  his  ingenuity,  and,  in  the  absence  of  all 
models,  would  prove  the  possession  of  con- 
siderable mental  power  and  skill. 

The  employments  of  man  in  Paradise  in- 
volved some  knowledge  of  zoology,  of  the 
domestication  and  training  of  animals,  which 
were  placed  under  his  control.  This  is  evident 
from  the  recorded  fact,  that  the  Lord  God 
brought  every  beast  of  the  field  and  fowl  of  the 
air  "  unto  Adam,  to  see  what  he  would  call 
them :  and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living 
creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof,"  Gen. 
ii.  19.  In  this  act,  joined  with  the  subsequent 
one  of  naming  Eve,  we  have  not  only  evidence 
of  the  varied  knowledge  and  intelligence  of 
man,  immediately  after  his  creation,  but  we 
have  unquestionable  proof  that  language  was 
coeval  with  his  origin,  and  that  it  was  applied 


OF  LANGUAGE.  87 

by  him  to  a  wide  range  of  objects  in  the  earliest 
days  of  his  existence. 

We  thus  find  man,  in  his  first  occupations, 
immediately  capable  of  giving  suitable  names 
to  the  various  tribes  and  classes  of  animals, 
and  of  reasoning  consecutively,  and  in  perfectly 
appropriate  terms,  concerning  his  own  situation, 
and  the  relation  he  stood  in  to  other  creatures. 
In  his  first  attempts  at  speech  we  can  discover 
no  crudeness  of  conception — no  barrenness  of 
ideas,  no  inexpressive  or  unsuitable  terms.  It 
is,  therefore,  rational  to  conclude  that,  when 
endued  with  corporeal  and  mental  powers 
perfectly  adapted  to  his  condition  in  life,  he 
was  blessed  with  the  power  of  speech  as  essen- 
tial to  the  perfection  of  his  being  ;  while  the 
exercise  of  the  newly- bestowed  power  would 
be  regulated  by  the  force  of  circumstances  and 
the  exigencies  of  his  untried  position. 

We  have  further  evidence,  from  the  same 
inspired  source,  of  the  moral  civilization  of  the 
first  man  in  the  notices  furnished  of  his  social 
condition.  The  institution  of  marriage,  while 
ministering  to  his  personal  comfort  and  to  some 
of  the  ultimate  ends  of  his  creation,  clearly 
indicates  the  high  state  of  his  affections,  and 
the  holiness  of  his  character.  There  was  found, 
in  the  mother  of  us  all,  a  being  fitted  to  be  the 
companion  of  unfallen  man,  who  was  consti- 
tuted the  husband  of  one  wife  ;  though  it  is 
intimated  by  the  prophet  Malachi,  chap.  ii.  15, 
that  God,  "  having  the  residue  of  the  Spirit," 
might  have  given  him   more  than  one   such 


.83  THE  ORIGIN  AND  MOGRESS 

companion  :  but  one  alone  was  granted,  that  a 
godly  seed  should  be  preserved  in  the  earth. 
Polygamy  is  ever  an  attendant  upon  a  bar- 
barous, or  a  semi-barbarous,  state  of  society; 
and  its  entire  absence  amongst  the  earliest  of  the 
patriarchs,  excepting  Laniech,  is  a  significant 
intimation  of  the  advanced  character  of  the  life 
to  which  the  immediate  descendants  of  Adam 
were  introduced. 

The  responsible  position  of  the  first  man, 
shows  his  acquaintance  with  vocal  language. 
He  was  placed  under  laws  given  through  its 
medium.  To  him,  and  to  his,  were  allowed 
the  free  use  and  enjoyment  of  all  the  fruits  of 
the  garden  he  occupied,  with  one  solitary  ex- 
ception :  "  Of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it,"  Gen.  ii.  17. 
The  tree  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  the  sacred 
inclosurc,  appears  at  once  to  have  been  to  him 
the  sacramental  pledge  and  means  of  life. 
Those  laws  under  which  he  was  wisely  and 
benevolently  placed  were  enforced  by  the  pro- 
mise of  reward,  and  by  the  threatening  of 
punishment.  The  right  apprehension  of  this 
rule  of  his  being,  and  of  the  results  of  obedi- 
ence and  disobedience,  involved  rationality  and 
responsibility  of  a  high  degree  ;  and  the  way 
in  which  it  was  proclaimed,  not  by  symbol  or 
by  type,  but  by  the  voice  of  the  eternal  Jehovah, 
intimates  to  us  that  he  became  familiar  with 
his  duty  and  with  his  destiny  by  a  gradual 
comprehension  of  the  power  of  language,  as  il 
fell  upon  his  newly-opened  ear. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  laws  given  by  the 


OF  LANGUAGE.  89 

Creator  to  the  first  pair  respecting  marriage, 
the  propagation  of  their  species,  and  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  earth  for  their  support,  toge- 
ther with  other  discoveries  of  the  Divine  will, 
were  communicated  through  the  medium  of 
language.  They  obviously  conversed  with  God 
and  with  each  other.  Jt  was  by  the  channel 
of  an  oral  language  that  the  tempter  infused 
the  first  taint  of  sin  into  the  human  heart, 
breathing  his  poison  with  his  words.  And 
this  is  a  statement  of  facts,  embracing  a  real 
event  in  the  history  of  man,  and  not  a  mythical 
representation  to  be  understood  by  the  fanciful 
aid  of  an  allegorical  system  of  interpretation. 

The  art  most  necessary  for  man  as  a  social 
being,  from  the  moment  that  Eve  was  formed 
out  of  him  to  be  his  companion,  was  language. 
"  In  what  sense  could  it  be  said  that  a  meet 
companion  for  the  man  was  found,  if  there 
were  not  given,  to  both,  the  power  of  communi- 
cating their  thoughts  by  appropriate  speech? 
If  God  pronounced  it  not  good  for  man  to  be 
alone — if  with  multitudes  of  creatures  sur- 
rounding him  he  was  still  deemed  to  be  alone, 
because  there  was  none  of  these  with  which 
he  could  commune  in  rational  correspondence — 
if  a  companion  was  assigned  to  him,  whose 
society  was  to  rescue  him  from  this  solitude — 
what  can  be  inferred,  but  that  the  indis- 
pensable requisite  for  such  society,  the  powers 
and  exercise  of  speech,  must  have  been  at  the 
6ame  time  vouchsafed?"* 

And  the  nature  of  man,  as  a  religious  being, 
*  Archbishop  Magee  on  the  Atonement,  vol.  ii.  p.  68. 
8* 


90  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

demanded  the  exercise  of  speech  from  the 
beginning.  The  earliest  worship  of  our  first 
parents  could  not  have  been  purely  mental  and 
meditative,  but  would  be  maintained  socially, 
and  by  oral  language.  The  knowledge  which 
man,  in  his  individual  capacity,  would  possess 
of  the  Father  of  his  spirit,  called  for  the  power 
of  language  suitably  to  employ  it.  Though 
there  appears  to  have  been  no  written  revela- 
tion of  the  Divine  will,  made  to  him  at  the 
beginning,  yet  from  the  various  works  of  nature, 
spread  out  before  his  wondering  gaze,  he  would 
learn  much  of  the  character  and  perfections  of 
God.  In  the  heavens  above,  kindled  with  noon- 
day splendour,  or  lighted  up  with  nocturnal 
glory;  in  the  earth  around  him,  with  its  foliage 
and  flowers,  its  green  sward  and  meandering 
streams ;  and  in  his  own  person  "  fearfully 
and  wonderfully  made,"  he  would  view,  with 
unclouded  mind,  the  evidences  of  eternal  power 
and  Godhead,  written  as  with  a  pencil  of  living 
light.  As  a  creature  who  felt  and  cultivated 
the  consciousness  of  his  entire  dependence 
upon  his  Creator,  he  would  be  prompted  to 
those  exercises  of  devotion  which  would  bring 
his  mind  into  fellowship  with  Deity,  and  in 
this  he  would  be  greatly  aided  by  the  utter- 
ances of  his  own  voice.  Remembering,  as  he 
frequently  would,  that  all  the  conveniences  and 
blessedness  of  his  new-formed  existence  were 
the  gifts  of  Divine  love — that  the  breath  he 
drew,  and  the  rational  capabilities  he  possessed, 
were  all  bestowed  from  heaven,  and  depended 
for  their  continuance  on  the  sovereign  will  of 


OF  LANGUAGE.  -  91 

Jehovah — he  would  be  led  to  the  utterance  of 

thanksgiving,  blended  with  fervent  supplication. 
True  it  is  that  no  altar  was  erected  in  Eden, 
and  no  expiatory  sacrifice  presented  there  ;  but 
in  the  temple  of  man's  grateful  spirit  the 
incense  of  a  pure  devotion  would  constantly 
ascend  to  God. 

From  such  considerations  as  those  which  we 
have  now  adduced,  it  appears  to  us  as  clear,  as 
though  it  had  been  expressly  revealed  in  so 
many  words,  that  the  conscious  power  of  vocal, 
intelligible  utterance  was  coeval  with  man's 
existence ;  and  that  the  first  human  pair,  called 
into  being  in  all  the  perfection  of  an  adult 
state,  did  at  once  exercise  that  power,  and 
recognise  it  as  the  gift  of  God.  And  this  con- 
clusion, while  diametrically  opposed  to  the 
theories  framed  in  opposition  to  the-  sacred 
Scriptures,  is  equally  adverse  to  those  which, 
admitting  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  record,  yet 
attribute  to  Adam  the  gradual  formation  of 
language  as  his  wants  and  circumstances  de- 
manded. The  Bible  represents  him  as  using 
the  powers  of  speech  before  the  production  ol 
Eve  ;  and,  consequently,  immediately  after  his 
own  creation.  It  is  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  he  could  have  devised  such  a  mode  of 
communication  with  others  before  any  human 
being  with  whom  to  converse  existed  ;  and 
utterly  impossible  that  he  could  intuitively 
have  applied  his  inflexible  and  unexercised 
organs  to  the  delicate  and  difficult  work  of  arti- 
culation, without  Divine  aid.  The  first  use,  as 
well   as  the   capacity,  of  oral  language  is  to 


92  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

be  attributed,  therefore,  to  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation. 

Although  the  apostasy  of  man  from  his 
Maker  involved  him  and  his  posterity  in  the 
most  awful  consequences  bearing  upon  his 
moral  character  and  destiny,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  reason  for  supposing  that  it  removed 
from  him  the  power  of  language,  or  threw  his 
immediate  descendants  down  into  the  gulf  of 
a  savage  state.  On  the  contrary,  we  find  the 
Creator  reasoning  with  his  rebellious  children 
on  their  guilt,  passing  sentence  of  condemnation 
on  them  and  on  their  tempter,  couching  in 
figurative  but  beautiful  phraseology  the  pro- 
mise of  the  Saviour's  advent  and  victory  in  the 
fulness  of  time,  and  dealing  with  them  in  all 
respects  as  with  beings  who,  though  rendered 
guilty  and  miserable  by  their  fatal  apostasy 
from  him,  were  yet  rational  and  responsible. 

The  narrative  with  which  we  are  favoured 
of  the  early  history  and  settlements  of  the 
family  of  Adam,  represents  them  as  living 
together  in  one  place,  or  diverging  to  separate 
localities  in  companies,  and  attending,  in  general, 
to  agricultural  and  pastoral  avocations.  During 
the  long  period  which  intervened  between  the 
fall  of  man  and  the  destruction  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  human  family  by  the  waters  of  a 
flood — which,  according  to  the  most  valuable 
chronologists,  was  about  two  thousand,  or  two 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  years* — man- 
kind were  preserved  in  a  state  of  civilization, 
and,  in  all  probability,  made  considerable  ad- 
*  See  Dr.  Hales's  Chronology,  2nd  ed.  vol  i.  pp.  212,  215. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  93 

vancement  in  the  arts  of  life,  and  in  the  career 
of  general  improvement. 

Man,  though  fallen,  was  still  favoured  with  a 
revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  and  with  the 
means  of  approach  to  God  by  the  presentation 
of  atoning  sacrifices,  which  were  types  of  the 
great  Sacrifice  offered  in  the  end  of  the  age, 
on  the  brow  of  Calvary.  It  is  not  true  that 
Fetichism,  or  the  deification  of  nature,  is  the 
infancy  of  religion.  Neither  its  lowest  form — 
the  worship  of  beasts,  nor  its  highest — the 
Sabean  reverence  paid  to  the  host  of  heaven, 
was  known  before  the  flood.  A  pure  Theism 
prevailed,  and  the  one  true  God  was  wor- 
shipped. Seasons  of  social  or  public  worship 
were  periodically  observed,  as  is  evident  from 
this  fact,  that,  from  the  beginning,  time  was 
divided  into  weekly  periods  of  seven  days,  and 
the  sabbath,  set  apart  from  secular  purposes, 
was  devoted  to  the  service  of  God.  On  that 
day  we  can  readily  imagine  the  patriarchs,  who 
were  at  once  the  priests  and  prophets  of  their 
families,  assembling  their  households  at  an 
appointed  locality.  This,  probably,  was  at  first 
in  front  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  where  were  the 
cherubim,  between  which  was  the  presence  of 
the  Lord,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  the 
place  where,  by  Divine  appointment,  men 
ought  to  worship.  Places  sacred  to  the  worship 
of  God  were  afterwards  multiplied. 

The  civilization  implied  in  the  constant 
orderly  worship  of  one  God  was  unquestionably 
realized  by  all  the  patriarchs,  and  this  mode  of 
worship,  teaching,  as  it  does,  that  there  is  one 


94  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

equal  Father  of  the  human  family,  would  have 
been  incompatible  with  the  spirit  and  institu- 
tions of  savage  life.  This  worship,  we  know, 
was  maintained  from  Adam  to  Noah,  and 
various  spots  in  the  antediluvian  world  conse- 
crated to  the  service  of  Jehovah.  "  Abraham 
planted  a  grove  in  Beersheba,  and  called  there 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  everlasting  God," 
Gen.  xxi.  83.  Jacob  summoned  his  family  to 
"  arise,  and  go  up  to  Bethel,"  the  scene  of  his 
early  dedication  and  of  gracious  manifestations, 
there  to  redeem  the  vows  he  had  made  in 
trouble,  Gen.  xxxv.  8.  It  would  appear  that 
on  temples  were  then  erected,  but  altars  were 
reared,  pillars  were  set  up  to  commemorate 
interesting  events  in  connexion  with  the  Divine 
government,  and  to  these  sacred  spots  the 
tribes  went  up  as  unto  the  testimony  of  the 
Lord.  It  is  probable  that  fire  from  heaven 
marked  the  Divine  acceptance  of  the  wor- 
shipper by  consuming  his  offering  ;*  and  that, 
assured  by  this  of  the  favourable  regard  of  his 
Maker,  he  would  go  down  to  his  house  justified 
and  comforted.  The  Christian  mind  cannot 
fail  to  rejoice  in  these  intimations  of  the 
glorious  fact  that  the  light  which  now  shines 
perfectly  upon  us  in  the  gospel  shed  its 
morning  beams  on  the  earliest  of  the  patriarchs, 
who,  like  Abraham,  desired  to  see  the  day  of 
the  Messiah,  beheld  it,  and  were  glad.  Men 
thus  favoured  to  hold  communion  with  God, 
and  to  anticipate   the   advent   of  the  world's 


OF  LANGUAGE.  95 

Redeemer,  in  the  far  remote  future,  must  have 
been  in  a  state  greatly  removed  from  that  of 


It  is  still  further  evident,  from  the  frag- 
mentary notices  and  incidental  glimpses  of 
domestic  and  social  life,  afforded  in  the  Penta- 
teuch and  in  the  book  of  Job,  that  all  the 
elements  of  a  civilized  condition  were  found  in 
the  earliest  patriarchal  communities.  They 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  the  domestic  compact, 
and  the  advantages  of  combination  for  mutual 
support  and  defence.  They  were  not  wandering 
savages,  who  procured  a  precarious  existence 
by  hunting  and  fishing,  who  met  each  other 
but  seldom,  and  then  in  disjointed  bands,  and 
without  the  privilege  of  interchanging  thought 
by  oral  language.  On  the  contrary,  they 
usually  dwelt  with  each  other  in  peace,  sur- 
rounded by  the  means  of  social  comfort,  and 
bound  to  one  another  by  the  ties  of  clanship 
or  of  fraternal  affection. 

The  philosophic  theory,  as  it  calls  itself,  of  a 
gradual  improvement  and  constant  advance- 
ment from  the  lowest  point  to  the  perfectibility 
of  human  nature,  is  thus  confuted  by  the 
strongest  evidence — the  evidence  of  facts.  Ac- 
cording to  this  progressive  philosophy,  Adam 
and  his  immediate  descendants  were  hunters, 
supported  by  the  produce  of  the  chase,  till  their 
increase  of  numbers  forced  them  up  to  the 
occupation  of  shepherds,  and  afterwards  to  the 
higher  employments  of  agriculturists.*  There 
is,  however,  abundant  evidence  to  prove  that 
*  "Wcaltb  of  Nations,  book  v.  chap.  i. 


96  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

such  was  not  the  early  state  and  progress  of 
civil  society.  We  are  told  of  Cain,  that  "  he 
builded  a  city,"  Gen.  iv.  17  ;  and,  though  it 
is  readily  granted  that  this  name  is,  in  Holy 
Scripture,  sometimes  applied  to  a  small  collec- 
tion of  houses,  and  that,  probably,  it  should  be 
so  restricted  here,  yet,  such  residences  in  a 
mere  village  or  hamlet  were  clearly  in  advance 
of  the  use  of  tents  for  human  dwellings.  And 
not  only  so,  but  they  were  actually  anterior  in 
their  construction  and  use  to  the  more  fragile 
and  moveable  habitations.  It  is  declared,  sub- 
sequently, of  Jabal,  that  he  was  "  the  father  of 
such  as  dwell  in  tents,  and  have  cattle,"  Gen. 
iv.  20.  There  is  much  safety  in  our  inferring 
from  such  a  statement  that  the  nomadic  life 
was  introduced  subsequently  to  the  pastoral, 
by  men  wearied  with  the  daily  and  nightly 
watchings  of  the  plain,  or  the  monotonous  labour 
of  the  field.  Agrarian  pursuits  clearly  pre- 
ceded the  wild  and  exciting  sports  of  hunting, 
as  a  means  of  support. 

That  a  division  of  labour,  involving  a  prin- 
ciple which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  civilized 
life,  was  understood  and  acted  upon  from  the 
beginning  of  man's  history,  is  evident.  The 
first  two  men  born  of  woman  were  devoted  to 
different  employments.  One  of  them,  Abel, 
was  "  a  keeper  of  sheep  ;"  and  the  other,  Cain, 
wa3  "  a  tiller  of  the  ground,"  Gen.  iv.  2.  The 
principle,  thus  early  recognized,  was  unques- 
tionably   generally   adopted    and   incorporated 

'tlj  the  arrangements  for  manual  labour 
amongst   the  immediately   succeeding   genera- 


OF  LANGUAGE.  97 

tions.  While  pasturage  and  husbandry  appear 
to  have  claimed  the  principal  attention  and  toil 
of  the  first  men,  they  weTe  not  all  exclusively 
given  to  these  pursuits,  but  followed  other 
branches  of  labour,  involving,  not  only  industry, 
but  skill.  Cain  could  not  have  built  a  city, 
which  he  called  after  the  name  of  his  son 
Enoch,  without  some  considerable  knowledge 
of  more  than  one  mechanical  art.  Separate 
departments  of  artistic  skill  were  occupied  by 
individuals  and  by  classes  in  the  earliest  patri- 
archal times.  Thus,  Tubal-Cain  was  distin- 
guished as  the  "  instructor,"  or  head,  of  the  class 
who  were  artificers  "in  brass  and  iron,"  Gen. 
iv.  22.  This  branch  of  art  implied  some 
considerable  intelligence,  as  it  involved  an  ac- 
quaintance with  metallurgy,  and  some  know- 
ledge of  the  methods  of  softening  and  working 
the  materials  mentioned,  and  probably  of  other 
metals  too,  for  the  gold  of  Havilah,  found  in 
the  vicinity  of  Eden,  is  described  as  being 
good.  There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  many 
of  the  conveniences  and  comforts,  which  could 
only  be  appreciated  or  collected  by  persons 
elevated  much  above  a  barbarous  state,  belonged 
to  society  in  the  period  we  are  now  con- 
templating. Some  acquaintance  with  music, 
beyond  the  rude  sounds  which  were  emitted  by 
the  shepherd's  reed,  belonged  at  least  to  Jubal 
and  his  descendants,  or  followers,  who  handled 
"  the  harp  and  organ,"  Gen.  iv.  21. 

The  poetic   form   of  the   recorded   address 
uttered  by  Lamech  to  his  wives,  would  teach 
9 


P8 


tiik  or.idN  and  pjrogiiess 


us  that  some  poetic  skill  was  realised  in  these 
early  times.    Thus  we  read,  Gen.  iv.  23,24: 

"  And  Lamech  said  to  his  wives, 
Adah  and  Zillah,  hear  my  voice; 
"Wives  of  Lamech,  hearke'n  to  my  speech. 
I,  indeed,  being  wounded,  have  slain  a  man, 
And  being  assaulted,  a  young  man. 
If  Cain  shall  be  avenged  seven  times, 
Certainly  Lamech  seventy  and  seven."* 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  design  of  this 
address,  its  form  is  highly  poetical. 

That  a  knowledge  of  astronomy  was  added 
to  the  arts  then  in  use,  may  be  inferred  from 
the  nomadic  mode  of  life  of  some  tribes, 
which  was  favourable  to  its  cultivation,  as 
afterwards  seen  among  the  Chaldees,  and  from 
the  familiar  references  to  the  names  of  stars  in 
the  book  of  Job.  Some  system  of  noting  the 
flight  of  time  appears  to  have  been  in  use,  from 
the  minute  accuracy  of  the  genealogical  tables 
in  the  book  of  Genesis,  and  from  the  records  of 
the  birth,  age,  and  death  of  the  patriarchs,  as 
well  as  from  the  intimation  of  the  year,  month, 
and  day,  in  which  some  important  events  are 
described  as  occurring. 

The  condition  in  which  men  dwelt,  usually 
in  peace  with  each  other;  the  scrupulous  regard 
enjoined  upon  them  as  to  the  sacredness  of 
human  life;  the  authority  of  the  patriarchs  in 
enforcing  laws,  whether  human  or  Divine  ;  the 
reference  to  judges  sitting  in  the  gate  ;  and  the 
deference  paid  by  men  when  grown  up  to  the 
will  of  their  parents,  all  indicate  a  state  of 
things  in  which  piety  and    morality  gave  se- 

*  Dr.  Bootbroyd's  version. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  99 

curity  to  personal  liberty  and  property.  The 
men  described  in  the  first  pages  of  the  Bible 
were  not  brutes  nor  savages,  but  civilized 
beings. 

The  building  of  the  ark,  at  the  end  of  the 
antediluvian  period,  though  begun  and  carried 
on  by  Noah  under  a  Divine  direction,  never- 
theless supposed  considerable  knowledge  and 
skill  on  the  part  of  the  workmen  engaged  in  its 
construction.  Some  superiority  in  mensuration 
and  mechanics  is  implied  in  rearing  so  large  a 
structure  as  the  ark.  Some  acquaintance  with 
the  varieties  of  timber  is  indicated  in  the  selec- 
tion of  the  proper  kind  of  wood  ;  and  some 
knowledge  of  the  properties  of  those  bodies 
which  were  fitted  to  protect  the  vessel  from  the 
corrosion  of  the  elements,  and  from  the  havoc 
of  marine  insects,  is  implied  in  the  injunction 
to  "  pitch  it  within  and  without  with  pitch," 
Gen.  vi.  14. 

Immediately  after  the  miraculous  preserva- 
tion of  a  root  of  the  human  family  by  the 
construction  of  the  ark,  wre  find  Noah  and  his 
sons  taking  possession  of  the  new  world.  From 
this  fresh  starting  point  mankind  continued  to 
advance,  and  wre  distinctly  trace  the  indications 
of  their  civilized  state.  "  Noah  began  to  be  a 
husbandman,  and  he  planted  a  vineyard,"  Gen. 
ix.  20 ;  and  his  three  sons,  by  whom  the 
whole  earth  was  overspread,  in  all  probability 
devoted  themselves  to  separate  callings.  Their 
immediate  descendants,  when  settled  in  Shinar, 
.were  acquainted  with  the  art  of  making  bricks. 


100  THE  ORIGIN*  AND  PROGRESS 

and  used  them  with  bitumen  instead  of  mortar," 
as  they  began  to  build  a  city  and  a  tower,  the 
top  of  which,  they  vainly  hoped,  should  reach 
unto  heaven,  Gen.  xi.  4. 

Other  glimpses  of  patriarchal  life,  after  the 
dispersion,  are  afforded  us,  and  they  are  in 
perfect  harmony  with  those  which  we  find  in 
the  more  remote  periods.  We  see  shepherds 
and  husbandmen,  artificers  and  merchants, 
associated  together  in  communities  and  na- 
tions. They  do  not  present  themselves  to  us 
in  squalid  poverty  and  wretchedness,  but  as 
possessing  flocks  and  herds,  and  silver  and 
gold.  We  meet  with  allusions  to  the  "  smok- 
ing furnace,"  and  to  the  "  burning  lamp." 
Mention  is  made  of  sepulchres,  of  shekels 
current  with  the  merchant,  of  golden  ear-rings, 
and  of  bracelets  of  gold.  The  right  to  land 
was  recognised,  and  parted  with  for  pecuniary 
considerations.  In  the  march  of  luxury,  linen 
cloth  appears  to  have  superseded  such  garments 
as  "  aprons  of  fig-leaves,"  and  "  coats  of  skins," 
in  which  the  first  human  pair  were  temporarily 
arrayed.  Abraham  told  the  king  of  Sodom, 
that  he  would  take  nothing  of  him,  "  from  a 
thread  even  to  a  shoe-latchet,"  Gen.  xiv.  23. 
Rebecca  is  said  to  have  covered  herself  with  a 
veil,"  and  Joseph  to  have  had  "  a  coat  of  many 
colours." 

It  would  be  interesting  to  enlarge  on  the 
biblical  notices  of  the  early  state  of  man- 
kind, but  our  present  use  of  them  is  limited  to 
an  examination  of  the  evidence  they  supply  to 
the  fact  that  society,  as  historically  portrayed 


OF  LANGUAGE.  101 

in  the  Scriptures,  possessed,  in  its  origin  and 
subsequent  stages,  an  oral  language.  And  when 
Ave  consider  in  how  rude  a  state,  compared 
with  that  of  the  patriarchs,  the  Mexicans  and 
Peruvians  were  found,  when  discovered  by 
Europeans,  though  they  had  belonged  for  some 
centuries  to  a  settled  and  populous  community, 
and  yet  find  among  them  well-constructed  and 
articulated  languages,  we  see  the  most  conclu- 
sive reasons  for  affirming  that  such  society  as 
that  existing  in  patriarchal  times  could  not, 
unless  by  the  intervention  of  a  miracle,  have 
been  formed,  nor  retained  in  the  bonds  which 
held  it,  without  the  aid  of  language.  Indeed, 
when  we  remember  the  barbarism  into  which 
some  insulated  tribes  have  sunk  in  the  lapse  of 
time,  and  the  slow  growth  of  human  improve- 
ment under  the  most  favouring  circumstances, 
it  is  just  possible  that  the  progenitors  of  our 
race  were  not  entirely  left  to  their  own  inge- 
nuity in  the  invention  of  useful  arts  in  general, 
but  received  Divine  instruction,  of  a  peculiar 
kind,  in  the  use  of  the  powers  with  which  they 
were  favoured.  The  world  is  much  more 
indebted  to  the  church  for  its  means  of  comfort 
and  usefulness  than  it  is  ready  to  acknowledge; 
and  we  incline  to  the  opinion,  that  even  our 
literature  owes  much  more  to  the  Hebrews 
than  it  does  to  the  Egyptians,  though  a  con- 
trary notion  has  been  entertained  by  many. 


9* 


102  THE  OPJOTN  AND  PROGRESS 


CHAPTER   VI. 

The  theory  of  physical  spontaneous  development  held  by 
.some  advocates  of  invented  language  —  Statements  and 
estimate  of  this  philosophy— No  actual  case  illustrative  of 
the  theory- Impassable  gulf  between  man  and  the  inferior 
creatures— General  results  arrived  at  in  the  argument — 
Steps  by  which  it  has  been  reached  —  Language  is 
Divine  in  its  origin  —  Explanations  —  Character  of 
the  primitive  language-  Review  of  the  several  arguments 
for  this  theory  —  Consistency  of  the  conclusion  with  the 
reasons  and  facts  of  the  case— Its  harmony  with  revelation. 

The  advocates  of  the  human  invention  of 
language  adopt,  as  we  have  seen,  a  theory 
concerning  the  history  of  our  race,  at  once 
untenable  and  absurd  ;  but  the  more  offensive 
and  impious  conclusions  of  the  theory  have  not, 
yet  been  glanced  at.  It  is,  indeed,  little  more 
than  a  revival  of  the  Epicurean  atheism, 
which  held  the  fortuitous  concurrence  of  atoms 
to  be  the  cause  of  the  existence  of  all  organized 
beings.  This  extravagant  creed  of  infidelity 
may  be  traced  up  to  Moschus  and  Democritus. 
Jt  was  presented  to  the  world,  with  some 
modifications,  by  La  Marck,  in  his  System  of 
Appetencies,  and  has  recently  been  put  forth 
in  an  English  dress,  under  the  attractive  form 
of  a  new  theory  of  animal  development, 

This  wretched  philosophy  teaches  that  elec- 
tricity, or  some  similar  power — how  derived  and 
obtained  is  not  said — produced  the  monad,  the 


OF  LANGUAGE.  103 

humblest  form  of  organic  structure;  that  nature, 
having  made  a  start,  proceeded  progressively 
to  perfect  her  work  ;  that  monads  in  time 
worked  their  way  up  to  monkeys  ;  and  that 
monkej^s,  in  like  manner  advancing,  became  at 
length  the  parents  of  men.  These,  as  they 
were  formed  into  families,  from  their  natural 
appetencies  to  speak,  gradually  invented  lan- 
guage ;  and,  having  so  far  advanced,  their 
descendants  are  moving  on  to  some  yet  higher 
form  of  earthly  being. 

It  is  pretended  that  the  gradual  steps  of  this 
development  are  in  conformity  with  a  principle 
at  work  in  the  entire  animate  creation.  It  is 
said,  though  without  the  shadow  of  proof,  that 
the  insect,  desiring  to  improve  its  condition, 
gave  birth  to  marine  tribes.  Some  of  these, 
forming  the  desire  to  walk,  became  quadru- 
peds; and  others,  under  an  appetency  to  fly, 
became  birds.  Quadrupeds,  as  they  herded 
together,  became  men.  Such  is  the  philosophy 
that  repudiates  faith,  rejects  revelation,  and 
attempts  to  annihilate  human  responsibility  ! 

This  miserable  theory  is  alike  an  insult  to 
the  dignity  of  human  nature,  and  to  the 
wisdom  of  our  heavenly  Father.  That  we 
have  not  exaggerated  its  wicked  absurdities, 
or  dealt  unfairly  with  the  infidel  advocates  of 
the  invention  of  language,  in  charging  its  folly 
upon  them,  is  evident  from  the  following  repre- 
sentations of  Lord  Monboddo.  After  endea- 
vouring to  identify  man  with  the  hare,  the 
beaver,  and  the  sea-cat,  he  says:  "It  is  unne- 
cessary to  give  more  examples  from  the  brute 


ave 


1 04  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

creation,  since  it  appears  to  me  that  our  own 
species  furnishes  sufficient  for  my  purpose 
There  are  the  ourang-outangs,  who  are  proved 
to  be  of  our  species,  by  marks  of  humanity 
that,  I  think,  are  incontestible  ;  and  they  h 
one  property  more  of  the  species  than  tl 
quadruped  savages  above  mentioned,  that  they 
walk  erect.  They  live  in  society,  and  build 
hut?  ;  but  have  not  yet  attained  the  use  of 
speech."* 

In  terms  of  triumph — which  we  do  not  choose 
to  transfer  to  our  page — this  grave  and  learned 
judge  appears  to  glory  in  his  assumed  dis- 
covery, that  men  and  monkeys  are  of  the  same 
species.  It  is  truly  pitiable  to  see  a  human 
being  of  rank  and  learning  attempting  to 
render  his  race  the  butt  of  low  conceit  and 
fiend-like  banter.  The  singular  and  awkward 
reasonings,  by  which  this  attempt  to  degrade 
our  nature  is  bolstered  up,  present  few  points 
of  argument,  and  these  require  but  little  for 
their  refutation.  The  anatomical  argument 
for  identifying  man  with  brutes  is  admitted 
to  be  a  failure  by  all  well-instructed  physiolo- 
gists ;  it  is  not  a  mere  pectoral  or  partial 
conformity  that  must  consign  man  to  a  level 
with  brute  beasts.  It  would  only  be  philo- 
sophical to  demonstrate  an  analogy  in  limbs 
and  features,  in  trunk  and  extremity,  before 
human  beings  are  treated  as  mere  animals. 
Till  this  has  been  done,  let  the  gratuitous 
reckless  assertions  of  those  who  affirm  that 
perpendicular  attitude  and  motion  are  inven- 
*  On  Language,  vol.  i.  p.  289. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  105 

tions,    receive   the    just   condemnation   of   all 
candid  minds. 

No  case  illustrative  of  spontaneous  develop- 
ment, or  of  the  assumed  appetency  for  improve- 
ment, has  shown  itself  during  the  long  period 
of  recorded  observation.  Of  all  the  men  who 
have  chronicled  prodigies,  from  Pliny  down- 
wards, not  one  affirms  that  he  saw  the  lower 
animal  rising  into  the  higher,  or  detected  the 
animal  emerging  into  the  man.  Egypt  has 
preserved,  in  the  mummies  of  its  animals,  a 
museum  of  natural  history,  which  presents  to 
us,  at  the  distance  of  three  thousand  years, 
every  species  then  as  now.  Amidst  all  the 
strivings  of  man  after  new  resources  and  new 
powers,  there  has  not  been,  from  age  to  age, 
the  development  of  any  additional  organ  or 
faculty,  nor  the  opening  of  a  new  channel  of 
perception.  And  this  stationary  formation 
harmonizes  with  the  general  law  under  which 
created  beings  are  placed.  "  The  bee  has  been 
striving  without  intermission  in  the  art  of 
making  its  sweet  confection  since  the  days  of 
Aristotle ;  the  ant  has  been  constructing  its 
labyrinths  since  Solomon  recommended  its 
example ;  but,  from  the  time  they  were 
described  by  the  philosopher  and  the  sage,  till 
the  beautiful  researches  of  the  Hubers,  they 
have  not  acquired  a  new  perception,  or  a  new 
organ  for  these  purposes."  * 

These  facts  tell,  with  irresistible  power,  against 

*  Dr.  Wiseman's  Lectures  on  the  Connexion  between  Science 
and  Revealed  Religion 


106  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  puerile  and  debasing  notions  of  the  ancient 
Theogonies,  and  against  all  the  confident  de- 
clamations of  the  modern  pantheistic  schools, 
and  may  serve  to  assure  us  that  no  cycles  of 
time,  even  if  they  amounted  to  countless  years, 
would  suffice  to  raise  irrational  brutes  to  the 
dignity  of  rational  and  immortal  man. 

The  fact  unquestionably  is,  that  a  gulf, 
never  to  be  passed,  divides  the  human  race 
from  all  the  inferior  creatures  by  whom  we  are 
surrounded.  The  superiority  of  man  consists 
in  the  possession  of  a  social  and  immortal 
nature,  and  of  a  capacity  for  indefinite  im- 
provement. "  He  is,  in  short,  a  man  in  every 
condition  ;  and  we  can  learn  nothing  of  his 
nature  from  the  analogy  of  other  animals.  In 
his  rudest  state  he  is  found  to  be  above  them  ; 
and  in  his  greatest  degeneracy  never  descends 
to  their  level.  With  him  the  society  appears 
to  be  as  old  as  the  individual,  and  the  use  of 
the  tongue  as  universal  as  that  of  the  hand  or 
the  foot.  If  there  was  a  time  in  which  he  had 
his  acquaintance  with  his  own  species  to  make, 
and  his  faculties  to  acquire,  it  is  a  time  of 
which  we  have  no  record."*  But  our  acquaint- 
unce  with  him,  as  we  have  seen,  goes  back  to 
the  period  of  his  creation  ;  and  in  every  age 
we  meet  him  as  a  man  and  a  brother. 

Having  thus  opened  up  and  examined,  at 
some  length,  and  with  considerable  care,  the 
several  questions  involved  in  a  full  inquiry  into 
the  origin  of  language,  and  having,  by  a  course 
of  inductive  investigation,  proved  that  the 
*  Ferguson  on  the  History  of  Civil  Society. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  107 

theory  of  its  invention  is  unfounded  and 
false,  we  are  now  in  a  position,  without  any 
great  risk  of  the  charge  of  presumption,  to 
reiterate  our  frequent  statements  made  at  the 
several  stages  of  our  reasoning,  and  to  affirm, 
in  the  most  unhesitating  manner,  that  the 
faculty  of  speech,  and  the  origin  of  language, 
are  alike  the  gifts  of  God.  He  appears  to  have 
created  Adam  with  the  capacity  of  speaking, 
and  to  have  given  him  the  desire  to  communi- 
cate the  ideas  he  received  through  the  medium 
of  his  senses.  In  addition  to  this,  the  benevo- 
lent Creator  appears  to  have  imparted  a  know- 
ledge of  the  elements  of  language  with  the 
being  of  man  ;  and  to  have  presented  to  him  at 
once,  in  the  opportunity  of  naming  the  animals, 
a  suitable  range  of  subjects  on  which  to  em- 
ploy his  newly-created  powers.  We  may  con- 
clude that  Eve  possessed  the  like  capacity  of 
language,  when  created,  with  at  least  an 
equally  strong  desire  to  use  it.  Their  mutual 
converse,  worthy  of  their  position  and  destiny, 
would  immediately  call  into  exercise  a  copious 
vocabulary.  The  scope  of  their  language  would 
be  enlarged  with  their  daily  experience  and 
observation.  In  process  of  time  they  would^ 
both  of  them,  instruct  their  children  in  the  use 
of  speech  ;  and  thus,  naturally  and  obviously, 
would  begin  and  spread  the  first  language  of 
the  world. 

We  do  not  intend,  by  the  avowal  of  this 
theory,  to  maintain  that  God  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Adam  the  very  words  he  should 
employ  on  all  ordinary  occasions  ;  and  that  in 


108  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

this  absolute  and  unqualified  sense  he  thus 
Divinely  created  the  language  of  Paradise,  but 
that  he  instructed  him  to  use  aright  his 
powers  of  mind  and  of  tongue.  Nor  do  we 
mean  to  affirm  that  the  whole  copia  verborum 
of  the  primitive  speech  was  immediately  in- 
vented. The  framework  of  language  would  be 
at  once  perfectly  constructed,  and  rendered 
capable  of  whatever  service  should  be  demanded 
from  it  for  the  immediate  use  of  mankind. 
Their  language  was  fully  adequate  to  their 
wants,  and  exquisitely  adapted  to  their  unso- 
phisticated and  happy  life.  Its  foundations 
being  Divinely  laid,  the  additions  afterwards 
required  could  easily  be  made  by  human  minds. 
Thus,  language  would  at  once  become  what  it 
usually  is,  the  measure  of  human  knowledge, 
and  the  external  index  of  social  attainment. 

We  have  no  means  of  positively  determining 
the  degree  of  perfection  which  pertained  to  the 
primitive  tongue.  As,  however,  the  original 
knowledge  of  man  must  have  been  sufficient  for 
all  the  purposes  of  a  pure  and  blessed  existence, 
and  as  the  principle  of  a  progressive  develop- 
ment entered  into  the  constitution  of  his  intel- 
lectual nature,  his  language  would  not  only  be 
sufficient  for  his  primitive  state,  but  would 
expand  and  adapt  itself  to  the  measure  of  his 
advancing  intelligence.  It  would  keep  pace 
with  the  growth  of  invention,  and  with  the 
general  cultivation  of  his  mind  and  heart ; 
while  it  would  powerfully  aid  the  improvement 
of  his  mental  endowments,  and  be  a  chief  in- 
strument  of  his   great   and    rapid   strides   in 


OF  LANGUAGE.  109 

general  attainments.  Thus  it  would  be  en- 
riched and  adorned,  from  time  to  time,  by 
numerous  additions.  From  being,  in  its 
earliest  age,  the  child  of  necessity,  it  would 
become  the  parent  of  ornament.  From  merely 
denoting  the  perceptions  of  sense,  it  would  ad- 
vance to  represent,  by  appropriate  terms,  the 
instruments  and  operations  of  art,  the  flights  of 
imagination,  the  deductions  of  reason,  and  the 
results  of  observation  and  experience.  New- 
objects  and  new  wants  would  continually  ren- 
der new  signs  and  symbols  indispensable  ;  and 
these  were  so  numerous  as  soon  to  call  into 
existence  a  varied  and  extensive  vocabu- 
lary. 

We  are  not  to  imagine  that  this  primitive 
language  was  a  mere  collection  of  words,  with- 
out much  regard  to  mutual  relations  and  gram- 
matical structure.  Oral  language,  of  every 
kind,  must  consist,  under  one  form  or  other,  ot 
five  parts  of  speech.  For  example,  it  must 
include  the  signs  of  things,  which  we  call 
nouns ;  of  actions,  which  we  call  verbs ;  of 
attributes,  which  we  call  adjectives,  or  ad- 
verbs ;  of  the  relations  of  some  things  to  others, 
which  we  call  prepositions  ;  and  of  the  natural 
expression  of  emotions,  which  we  term  inter- 
jections. Such  principles  did,  unquestionably, 
enter  into  the  structure  of  this  Divine  language, 
which  became,  in  after  times,  a  model  on  which 
all  existing  tongues  are  formed.  This  language 
of  Paradise  was  the  mother  of  them  all ;  it 
prevailed  through  the  eight  extended  gene- 
rations of  the  patriarchs,  during  which  "the 
10 


110  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

whole  earth  was  of  one  language,  and  of  one 
speech,"  Gen.  xi.  1. 

Language  thus  appears  to  us  originally  to 
have  assumed  the  form  that  it  would  have  done, 
if  it  could  have  been  developed  by  man,  in  a 
long  course  of  experience,  to  meet  the  wants  of 
his  civilized  condition.  It  was  completely  in 
harmony  with  the  laws  of  human  conscious- 
ness, and  exactly  fitted  to  give  them  utterance, 
so  that  the  point  in  reference  to  language  at 
which  God  set  down  man,  was  precisely  the 
point  which  man  would  have  reached,  at  a 
corresponding  stage  of  the  advancement  of  his 
nature,  if  he  had  possessed  the  power  of 
developing  both  that  nature  from  its  dormant 
faculties,  and  his  language  from  its  mere 
elements. 

This  view  of  the  origin  of  language  we 
regard  as  a  simple  and  satisfactory  solution  of 
the  subject,  so  far  as  its  extensive  bearings 
have  hitherto  occupied  our  attention  ;  and  it  is 
one  that  commends  itself  to  acceptance  by  a 
variety  of  considerations.  It  agrees  with  the 
purest  traditions  and  with  the  noblest  senti- 
ments and  opinions  of  the  most  ancient  nations, 
and  it  harmonizes  with  the  reasonable  expecta- 
tions suggested  by  enlightened  views  of  the 
character  and  government  of  God.  More  than 
all  this,  it  is  entitled  to  favour  from  those  who 
submit  to  the  authority  of  revealed  truth,  by 
the  fact,  that  it  is  in  perfect  conformity  with 
the  authentic  and  interesting  statements  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures  concerning  the  creation  of 
the  human  race  and  their  early  history,  who 


OF  LANGUAGE.  Ill 

could  not  have  existed  in  the  state  there  de- 
scribed, without  the  use  of  speech. 

Our  argument  for  the  Divine  origin  of  lan- 
guage— understanding  this  phrase  in  the  light 
of  those  definitions  and  restrictions  we  have 
appended  to  it — has  been  intentionally  inter- 
woven with  a  statement  and  refutation  of  the 
dogmatic  assertions  by  which  it  has  been 
sought  to  establish  the  opposite  theory.  In 
reality,  there  can  be  but  two  opinions  on  the 
subject.  Language  is  of  Divine  origin,  or  of 
human  invention.  Now,  if  the  last-mentioned 
theory  be  overthrown,  the  first  is  easily,  if  not  of 
necessity,  established.  In  each  of  our  advanc- 
ing and  substantiated  objections,  some  proof  in 
favour  of  our  own  position  has  been  secured  ; 
and  the  cumulative  evidence  is  conclusive,  that 
language  is  from  the  Creator  and  not  from  the 
creature. 

The  bearing  and  force  of  these  arguments, 
blended  as  they  have  been  with  the  positive 
conclusions  derived  from  the  Scriptures  and 
from  other  sources,  may  thus  be  summed  up 
and  exhibited  to  view.  If  it  be  the  case,  as 
we  have  proved,  that  no  period  for  the  sup- 
posed invention  of  language  can  be  assigned, 
and  that  no  traces,  either  historical  or  tra- 
ditional, of  its  inventor  or  inventors  can  be 
found,  then  the  inference  is  by  no  means  an 
unreasonable  one,  that  the  faculty  and  use  of 
speech  are  coeval  with  the  existence  of  the 
human  family.  Our  establishment  of  the 
position,  that  men  are  unable,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, to  invent  language — as  the  previous 


112  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

knowledge  of  it  must  have  been  required  for 
the  construction  of  the  most  simple  language 
of  the  least  instructed  tribes — strengthens  and 
advances  the  argument  for  the  Divinity  of  its 
origin.  In  the  absence  of  all  proof  that 
savages  ever  did,  or  could,  invent  speech,  and 
with  the  demonstration  of  the  physical  impos- 
sibility of  their  doing  it,  we  are  conducted, 
with  inevitable  precision,  to  the  conclusion, 
that  it  was  an  original  endowment  of  our  na- 
ture. If,  upon  all  the  evidence  derived  from 
just  views  of  the  character  and  government  of 
God,  and  of  the  nature  and  destiny  of  man, 
from  observation,  and  from  the  history  of  the 
world,  it  appears  that  the  savage  state  was  not 
natural  to  the  human  race  ;  and  that,  though 
some  tribes  have  fallen  into  it,  none  have  ever, 
by  their  own  unaided  powers,  emerged  from  it ; 
then  it  follows  that,  from  the  beginning,  man 
was  made  a  speaking  as  well  as  a  thinking 
being  ;  and  that  necessarily,  and  from  design, 
because  he  was  a  social  and  civilized  creature. 
If  the  gratuitous  assumptions  of  spontaneous 
development  be  so  triumphantly  annihilated  as 
to  prove  that  man  is  identical  with  himself  in 
every  age  and  clime,  always  a  rational  and 
accountable  being,  then  it  follows  that  oral 
language  is  not  an  accidental,  but  an  indis- 
pensable attendant  of  his  earthly  condition. 
His  tongue  is  an  important  member  of  his 
frame,  and  the  use  of  it  was  taught  him  by  his 
Maker. 

And  these   inferences    and   conclusions    are 
not  merely  unopposed  by  Scripture  testimony 


OF  LANGUAGE.  113 

To  say  this  only  of  them  would  not  be  to  state 
their  real  character.  Nor  is  it  enough  to  add 
that  there  is  no  apparent  collision  between 
them  and  it ;  for  they  are  established  by  all 
the  incidental  notices  and  positive  statements  of 
the  Bible,  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  entire  subject.  All  the  representations  it 
affords  of  the  mental  and  religious  condition  of 
man,  at  the  period  of  his  creation,  justify  our 
conclusion,  that  oral  language  was  indispen- 
sable for  the  ends  of  his  existence.  Its  state- 
ments of  domestic  life,  as  they  refer  to  the  first 
numan  pair  in  Paradise  and  after  their  expul- 
sion, exhibit  them  conversing  with  God  and 
with  each  other  ;  and  prove  that  Adam,  imme- 
diately upon  his  formation,  was  directed  to  the 
suitable  employment  of  the  wondrous  faculty 
of  speech.  The  lives  of  the  earliest  patriarchs, 
embodying  exercises  of  oral  devotion,  and  of 
intercourse  with  their  families  and  neigh- 
oours,  represent  them  as  maintaining  these 
acts  by  the  use  of  that  one  language,  spoken 
llrst  in  Paradise,  and  afterwards  through  the 
district  known  in  the  early  Scriptures  as  the 
East. 

Now,  forasmuch  as  arguments  are  to  be 
judged  of  less  by  their  number  and  variety, 
than  by  their  cogency  and  adaptation  to  the 
case  in  hand,  we  venture  to  deem  our  proofs 
conclusive  and  unassailable  in  their  general 
testimony,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  any 
particular  proof  or  mode  of  illustration.  The 
various  lines  of  thought  over  which  we  have 
travelled  have  all  converged  to  one  point,  and 
10* 


114  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

landed  us,  necessarily,  on  the  one  great  con- 
clusion, that  man  was  originally  indebted  to  his 
Maker,  not  only  for  the  organs  of  speech,  but 
also  for  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he  pos- 
sessed them,  and  for  the  inclination  and  power 
to  employ  them.  This  conclusion  appears  to 
us  to  be  as  reasonable  as  it  is  scriptural,  and 
to  furnish  the  only  view  that  is  truly  worthy  of 
the  origin  of  a  faculty  which  has  diffused  so 
widely  and  constantly,  through  all  the  branches 
of  the  human  family,  the  varied  and  unnum- 
bered blessings  of  which  it  is  the  appointed 
channel. 

This  interesting  subject,  in  its  multiform 
shapes,  and  contemplated  from  the  numerous 
points  of  observation  from  which  it  has  been 
surveyed,  presents  to  us  one  uniform  aspect 
and  result.  Whether  regarded  through  the 
medium  of  history  or  testimony,  of  observation 
or  a  sound  philosophy,  whether  looked  at  in 
the  light  of  experience  or  of  Scripture  declara- 
tion, it  shuts  us  up  to  the  conclusion  that  lan- 
guage is  not  a  human  invention,  but  a  Divine 
gift,  and  is,  like  reason  itself,  the  boon  of  the 
infinitely  wise  and  benevolent  Creator  to  his 
most  favoured  earthly  creature — Man. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  115 


CHAPTER   VII. 

One  common  language  in  the  early  patriarchal  times- 
Advantages  which  would  have  resulted  from  its  perpe- 
tuation—Evils and  benefits  of  a  variety  of  existing 
languages— Objection  to  the  Divine  origin  of  language 
arising  out  of  the  present  diversity,  stated  and  met— 
The  unity  of  the  human  race  — Declared  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  recognised  in  the  New— Illustrated  by 
modern  physiological  researches— The  unity  of  language 
hence  inferred— Verbal  affinities  and  grammatical  resem- 
blances in  all  tongues— Classification  of  languages— Family 
groups  —  Indo-Germanic— Semitic  —  Malayian  —  African  — 
American— Inferences  from  the  ascertained  present  state 
of  language. 

During  the  lengthened  period  of  human  history 
which  connected  the  career  of  Adam  with  that 
of  Noah,  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  earth 
spoke  one  language.  No  direct  Divine  inter- 
ference was  requisite  to  maintain  this  unity. 
Many  natural  circumstances  would  concur  to 
prevent  any  considerable  deviations  from  the 
primitive  speech.  It  would  be  held  in  reverence 
by  the  whole  human  family  ;  the  more  pious 
part  of  the  community  sacredly  using  it  as  the 
gift  of  God,  and  the  entire  race  valuing 
it  as  a  boon  derived  from  their  common  pa- 
rents, to  whom  every  descendant  was  deeply 
indebted.  Wherever  any  portions  of  this  family 
wandered,  they  would  cherish  its  recollection, 
and  preserve  it  in  use,  not  only  for  immediate 
intercourse  with  their  present  companions,  but 


11C  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

as  the  means  of  future  communication  with  the 
brotherhood  from  whom  they  had  departed, 
and  to  whom  it  might  be  hoped  they,  or  their 
children,  would  be  restored.  The  limited  ex- 
tent of  country  which  it  is  probable  the  ante- 
diluvians covered  would  allow  of  such  frequent 
intercommunion  as  to  make  all  advancement  in 
the  polish  of  language,  or  in  the  multiplication 
of  words,  accessible  to  the  entire  speaking  popu- 
lation of  the  earth.  The  extreme  length  of 
human  life  in  the  patriarchal  ages  would  be 
highly  favourable  to  the  fixed  and  universal 
character  which  the  primitive  language  retained 
till  after  the  flood.  At  the  same  time,  there 
could  be  no  temptation  to  any  portion  of  the 
race,  from  the  prevalence  of  other  forms  of 
speech  around,  to  break  down,  or  change,  or  for- 
sake the  tongue  in  which  they  were  born.  There 
is  much  reason  to  believe  that,  on  the  whole, 
considerable  advantage  would  have  resulted  to 
the  human  family  if  the  primitive  language  had 
been  preserved  intact,  and  had  prevailed  in  its 
unity  from  age  to  age,  as  successive  generations 
multiplied  and  extended  themselves  over  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  It  would  have  proved  a 
bond  of  universal  brotherhood,  to  cement  so- 
ciety in  its  various  and  dissimilar  parts. 

It  is  evident  that  the  division  of  tongues  has 
created  mournfully  strong  and  lasting  pre- 
judices and  antipathies  amongst  men.  Nations 
have  been  alienated  from  each  other  as  much 
by  difference  of  speech  as  by  diversities  of 
politics,  or  of  religion.  There  is  a  mental,  if 
not  a  moral,  deformity,  falsely  enough  attached 


OF  LANGUAGE.  117 

by  many  persons  to  those  who  are  unable  to 
speak  the  language  of  our  country.  The  man 
who  cannot  do  it  is  an  alien  to  us,  and  we  are 
instantly  alienated  from  him.  A  strong  dislike 
to  a  foreigner  may  frequently  be  detected  in 
children,  and  in  the  unlettered  rustic  who 
knows  no  other  language  than  his  own,  and 
who  has  never  visited  a  land  in  which  other 
languages  are  spoken.  Unreasonable  jealousies, 
as  a  consequence,  are  engendered,  and  strong 
national  prejudices  have  been  thrown  up  and 
perpetuated.  These  have  interfered  with  the 
commercial  intercourse  of  nations,  who  have 
deliberately  regarded  each  other  as  natural 
enemies,  have  led  to  paltry  acts  of  oppression 
and  tyranny,  to  neglect  of  the  exile,  and  cruelty 
to  the  stranger  cast  on  a  foreign  shore.  The 
prejudices  thus  created  have  served  to  perpe- 
tuate the  existence  of  partial  and  unjust  laws  ; 
and  have,  moreover,  originated  many  of  the 
unrighteous  and  exterminating  wars,  whose 
hateful  progress  may  be  tracked  by  desolated 
countries  stained  with  human  blood. 

The  diversities  of  speech  prevalent  amongst 
men  have  interfered  with  the  diffusion  of  those 
benefits  of  civilisation  enjoyed  by  some  highly 
favoured  nations,  to  the  more  destitute  and 
degraded  sister  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
efforts  of  the  Christian  church  to  evangelize 
the  heathen  world  have  been  seriously  retarded 
by  the  obstacles  thus  supplied.  The  missionary 
of  the  cross,  charged  with  his  message  of  mercy 
to  the  guilty  and  the  wretched,  has  been  im- 
peded on  the  very  threshold  of  his  benevolent 


118  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

embassy  by  the  long  and  laborious  exercises, 
which  were  necessary  to  enable  him  to  speak, 
in  intelligible  terms,  the  simplest  portion  of  the 
glad  tidings  he  was  sent  to  communicate.  And 
even  after  he  has  become,  to  a  good  extent, 
familiar  with  the  language  of  his  adoption,  his 
imperfect  acquaintance  with  its  idioms,  and 
his  faulty  pronunciation  of  its  terms,  have 
greatly  diminished  the  efficiency  of  his  public 
ministrations.  This  disadvantage  is  so  keenly 
felt  by  the  promoters  of  Christian  missions,  that 
the  hope  of  the  church  for  the  salvation  of  the 
more  erudite  heathen  nations  of  the  world  is  now 
placed  greatly  on  the  agency  of  a  well-trained 
band  of  native  teachers  and  preachers,  who 
may  speak  in  their  own  tongue,  in  which  they 
were  born,  "  the  wonderful  works  of  God."  It 
was  when  an  infuriated  Jewish  mob,  thirsting 
for  the  blood  of  the  apostle  Paul,  heard  him 
speak  to  them  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  that  they 
kept  profound  silence  ;  and  so,  when  men,  fired 
with  the  love  of  Christ,  shall  speak  to  their 
fellow-countrymen  the  words  of  the  truth  of 
the  gospel,  we  may  expect  that  these  words, 
through  Divine  grace,  will  calm  the  mind, 
subdue  the  passions,  and  change  the  hearts 
of  multitudes  now  living  without  hope  in  the 
world. 

From  these  considerations  we  may  conclude 
that  the  disadvantages  resulting  from  a  diver- 
sify of  languages  are  very  great ;  but  the  evil  is 
not  an  unmixed  one.  That  some  good  has  been 
educed  from  it  by  the  superint ending  provi- 
dence of  God,  who,  by  his  course  of  benevolent 


OF  LANGUAGE.  119 

operation,  is  reversing  every  malediction,  is 
evident  on  the  most  superficial  view  of  all  the 
workings  of  this  calamity.  Its  existence  has 
proved  a  barrier  to  the  licentiousness  and 
wickedness  of  mankind.  It  has  been  a  check 
to  the  ravages  of  superstition  and  idolatry  ;  and 
but  for  its  influence  some  of  the  gigantic  forms 
of  error,  which,  at  different  periods,  have  flour- 
ished in  the  earth,  might  have  become  universal, 
and  all  but  immutable.  It  has  presented  a 
limitation  to  the  subjugation  of  nations  to  great 
tyrannies,  which  have  sprung  up  and  widely 
extended  their  dominions.  The  Roman  empire 
made  an  attempt  to  destroy  the  nationalism 
of  society,  and  to  establish  a  universal  despot- 
ism, by  the  means  of  the  enforced  adoption  of 
its  language,  but  happily  failed  in  its  endea- 
vours to  exterminate  other  tongues.  Subse- 
sequently,  the  Roman  church,  panting,  like 
pagan  Rome,  for  universal  conquest,  and,  like 
it,  reckless  of  the  means  employed  for  this  end, 
laboured  with  untiring  zeal  and  energy  to 
annihilate  the  gentilism  of  society,  by  the  im- 
position of  its  faith,  through  the  medium  of 
the  Latin  language  ;  but  this  purpose,  in  like 
manner,  has  been  frustrated,  so  far  as  it  em- 
braces universality. 

Much  of  the  disadvantage  resulting  to  the 
Christian  church  from  the  diversified  tongues 
of  earth  has  been  surmounted,  or  even  sub- 
ordinated to  the  fulfilment  of  its  hallowed 
designs.  In  the  first  age  of  Christianity,  the 
gift  of  tongues  possessed  by  the  apostles  and 
other  ministers  and  members  of  the  church 


120  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

furnished  the  most  indubitable  evidence  of  the 
Divine  character  of  the  gospel,  and  facilitated 
its  rapid  introduction  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
then  known  world.  "  Tongues  were  for  a  sign 
to  them  that  believed  not,"  and  a  means  of 
subduing  them  to  the  faith  of  Christ.  And  in 
modern  times  eminent  Christian  scholars  have 
succeeded  in  translating  the  sacred  Scriptures 
into  the  principal  languages  of  the  earth.  That 
noble  institution,  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  has  been  the  honoured  instrument  of 
aiding  the  printing  of  the  word  of  God  in  no 
less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  lan- 
guages and  dialects  spoken  amongst  men ;  while 
the  American  and  other  Bible  societies  have 
increased  the  number  of  versions,  in  languages 
not  comprehended  in  this  enumeration.  The 
way  is  thus  preparing  for  the  final  contest  of 
the  religion  of  truth  and  love,  with  the  sin  and 
superstition  of  the  world,  in  which  it  will  be 
triumphant,  Christianity  is  the  only  religion 
adapted  to  become  universal,  and  the  only  one 
that  has  toiled  extensively  to  propagate  itself, 
by  the  diffusion  of  its  writings,  in  all  the  lan- 
guages of  the  earth. 

Nor  are  these  the  only  advantages  that  have 
been  realized  by  mankind  from  a  diversity  of 
languages  ;  for,  in  the  development  of  different 
forms  of  speech,  different  modes  of  thought, 
different  attributes  of  mind,  different  tastes  and 
talents  are  cultivated,  which,  taken  together, 
make  the  human  family  more  accomplished 
than  it  could  have  been  by  the  use  of  one 
universal  language  only.     This  division  is  to 


OF  LANGUAGE.  121 

thought,  what  the  division  of  labour  is  to 
mechanics,  as  it  perfects  the  art  of  thinking. 
Some  languages,  like  the  German,  are  best 
adapted  for  metaphysical  analysis  ;  others,  like 
the  French,  are  fit  for  familiar  intercourse  ;  and 
others,  like  the  English,  are  best  suited  for  the 
general  enterprise  of  active  life.  The  ardent 
pursuit  of  individual  nations,  in  what  appears 
to  be  their  peculiar  callings,  modifies  the  cha- 
racter and  tastes  of  other  communities,  who  do 
homage  to  their  talents  in  their  several  depart- 
ments of  thought  and  activity. 

The  power  of  a  language  in  forming  cha- 
racter, and  influencing  opinion,  must  be  evident 
to  all  who  have  studied  the  subject.  Its  advan- 
tageous influence  on  opinion  may  be  traced  in 
its  happy  etymologies,  and  in  its  afHuence  and 
precision  of  words.  "  Some  virtues  are  more 
sedulously  cultivated  by  moralists  when  the 
language  has  fit  names,  for  indicating  them  ; 
whereas  they  are  but  superficially  treated  of, 
or  rather  neglected,  in  nations  where  such 
virtues  have  not  so  much  as  a  name.  Lan- 
guages may  obviously  do  injury  to  morals  and 
religion  by  their  equivocation  ;  by  false  acces- 
sories, inseparable  from  the  principal  idea  ;  and 
by  their  poverty.  'There  is  an  illustration  of 
this  last-named  evil  influence  in  the  Ethiop- 
ians, who.  having  but  one  word  both  for  person 
and  for  nature,  could  not  comprehend  the  doc- 
trine of  the  union  of  Christ's  two  natures  in 
one  single  person.  Among  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  the  Deity  had  no  particular  identical 
name  ;  and  to  this  may,  probably,  be  imputed 
11 


122  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  badness  of  their  philosophy,  and  their 
defective  notions  in  everything  relating  to  theo- 
logy." * 

The  study  of  comparative  languages  has  not 
only  been  beneficial  as  a  discipline  of  mind  to 
individuals,  leading  them  to  form  habits  of 
patient  inquiry,  and  inducing  a  diligent  pursuit 
of  general  knowledge,  but  it  has  frequently 
led,  incidentally,  to  such  researches  in  other 
departments  of  human  and  sacred  learning,  as 
have  conferred  important  benefits  upon  society 
at  large.  Thus  it  is  remarked,  in  reference  to 
the  learned  philological  labours  of  Leibnitz, 
that  "  he  struck  out  a  new  and  unexpected 
light  to  guide  his  successors  through  the  seem- 
ingly hopeless  darkness  of  remote  ages.  This 
light  is  the  study  of  etymology,  and  of  the 
affinities  of  different  tongues  in  their  primitive 
roots  ;  a  light,  at  first  faint  and  glimmering,  but 
which,  since  his  time,  has  continued  to  increase 
in  brightness.  It  is  pleasing  to  see  his  curiosity 
on  this  subject  expand  from  the  names  of  towns, 
and  rivers,  and  mountains,  in  his  own  neigh- 
bourhood, till  it  reached  to  China,  and  othei 
regions  in  the  east ;  leading  him  to  some 
general  conclusions  concerning  the  origin  of  the 
different  tribes  of  our  species,  approximating 
very  nearly  to  those  which  have  been  since 
drawn  from  a  much  more  extensive  range  of 


*  See  Biblical  Review,  vol.  ii.  p.  370;  where  may  be  found 
an  able  article  by  the  learned  J.  D.  Alichaelis,  on  "  the 
Mutual  Influence  of  Lanpruape  and  Opinion,"  which  obtained 
a  prize  from  the  Royal  Society  of  Berlin. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  123 

data,  by  Sir  William  Jones,  and  other  philo- 
sophers of  the  same  school."  * 

Thus  we  find,  in  this  arrangement,  as,  in 
everything  else  that  belongs  to  the  Divine 
government  of  the  world,  the  working  of  the 
great  law  of  compensation.  One  thing  is  set 
over  against  another.  Events,  which  in  them- 
selves were  most  disastrous,  and  which  threat- 
ened only  the  entailment  of  calamity,  have 
been  so  counteracted  or  modified  by  the  Divine 
benevolence,  as  to  afford  light  mingled  with 
darkness,  and  to  present  the  mountain  tops  of 
joy  in  the  vicinity  of  the  regions  of  depression 
and  gloom.  So  fully  has  this  happened  with 
the  infliction  of  a  judgment  of  confusion  on  the 
speech  of  men,  as  to  render  it  now  an  open 
question,  whether  the  good  that  has  flowed 
from  it  eventually  has  not,  in  some  good  de- 
gree, approached  to  its  counteraction. 

An  objection  to  the  Divine  origin  of  language, 
arising  out  of  its  extensive  diversity,  has  been 
frequently  urged,  and  urged  with  some  plausi- 
bility, but  with  little  force,  because  those  who 
have  advanced  it  have  thoughtlessly  or  wil- 
fully chosen  to  overlook  those  historical  facts 
and  circumstances  which  completely  meet  it. 
Nevertheless,  to  this  objection  we  must  now 
look,  as  it  presents  itself  to  our  notice  while 
tracing  the  progress  of  language.  It  has  thus, 
in  substance,  been  stated: — If  the  first  lan- 
guage   was    communicated   by   inspiration,   it 

*  Professor  Playfair.  Dissertations  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  vol.  i.  4to.,  pp.  262,  263. 


124  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

must,  have  been  perfect,  and  would,  conse- 
quently, be  held  in  great  reverence  by  all  the 
human  family,  and  be  thus  preserved  from 
the  ravages  of  time.  But  great  varieties  of 
language  prevail.  They  are  now  to  be 
counted  not  by  tens,  nor  by  hundreds,  but  by 
thousands.  Some  existing  ones  are  obviously 
imperfect,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe,  that 
others  are  utterly  lost.  These  things  are 
deemed  by  the  objectors  fatal  to  the  truth  of 
the  Divine  origin  of  language.  To  meet  the 
difficulties  involved  in  the  invention  of  many 
languages,  they  boldly  affirm  that  the  races  of 
men  were  as  distinct  in  their  origin  as  are  the 
languages  they  now  speak,  and  refer,  in  proof 
of  their  opinion,  to  the  varieties  of  colour  and 
physical  conformation  which  mark  different 
tribes,  and  assume  that  these  can  only  be 
adequately  accounted  for  by  admitting  that  the 
human  race  did  not  descend  from  a  single  pair, 
but  were  created  at  different  times  and  places, 
or  started  up  in  the  various  parts  of  the  earth 
in  which  we  now  find  them. 

The  principal,  but  insufficient  support  to 
this  absurd  opinion  is  derived  from  the  old 
polytheistic  systems,  the  genius  of  which  was 
local  and  national.  Each  heathen  nation  had 
its  own  god,  and  was  identified  with  its  tutelary 
divinities.  They  knew  nothing  of  the  unity  of 
the  race  as  an  historic  fact.  In  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  empires,  they  perceived  no  law  of  unity ; 
and,  in  the  natural  division  of  nations,  they 
saw  no  arrangement  of  Divine.  Providence  for 
the  comfort  and  advantage  of  the  great  family 


OF  LANGUAGE.  125 

of  man.  They  recognised  the  unity  of  a  tribe, 
but  had  no  feeling,  no  conception  of  universal 
humanity.  If  they  had  enjoyed  access  to  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  they  might  have  been 
taught  the  unity  of  the  race ;  for  these  writings 
recognised  the  common  relation  of  man  to  man, 
however  diversified  in  language,  colour,  or 
physiological  peculiarities.  The  Old  Testament 
narrative  described  the  settlement  of  the  nations, 
and  the  foundation  of  empires,  in  the  descend- 
ants of  Noah.  It  anticipated  the  coming  of  a 
Messiah,  in  whom  "all  the  families  of  the  earth" 
should  be  blessed.  It  exhibited  Abraham 
called  in  uncircumcision,  that  he  might  be  the 
father  of  all  who  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  whether 
Jew  or  Gentile.  It  unfolded  the  character  of 
Jehovah  as  "  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,"  pro- 
claimed the  utterance  of  his  condescending  love, 
"  All  souls  are  mine,"  and  declared  that  unto 
him,  as  to  the  God  hearing  prayer,  all  flesh 
should  come. 

When  Christianity  descended  from  heaven, 
it  announced,  in  the  song  of  angels,  the  sublime 
end  of  its  mission :  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men."  As  a 
dispensationof  mercy,  it  was  exquisitely  adapted 
to  the  wants  and  woes  of  every  human  being, 
and  went  forth  to  bless  all  the  tribes  of  earth. 
It  recognised  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man- 
kind, by  its  precept  to  "  Honour  all  men."  By 
the  expansiveness  of  its  benevolence  it  forbade 
the  most  privileged  to  call  any  man  "  common" 
or  unclean.  It  taught  that  "  in  every  nation  he 
that  feareth"  God  "  and  worketh  righteousness 
11* 


126  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

is  accepted "  of  the  universal  Parent,  the 
Father  who  is  in  heaven.  When  the  apostle 
Paul  stood  amongst  the  Athenians  and  asserted 
the  unity  of  the  race,  he  announced  a  fact 
alike  new  to  the  philosophers  and  to  the  multi- 
tude, that  God  "  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  hath  determined  ....  the  bounds 
of  their  habitation,"  Acts  xvii.  26.  This  great 
truth  was  recognised  as  lying  at  the  basis  of  all 
the  early  Christian  churches,  which  sprang  up 
in  Judaea,  Galatia,  Asia  Minor,  and  the  isles  of 
the  Mediterranean.  An  equality  of  privilege 
was  claimed  for  believers  in  the  Son  of  God. 
The  distinctions  of  Jew  and  Greek,  barbariau 
and  Scythian,  bond  and  free,  male  and  female, 
were  all  merged  in  the  relationship  which  each 
sustained  to  the  Father  of  spirits,  and  to  Jesus 
Christ,  "  by  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven 
and  earth  is  named." 

The  researches  of  modern  physiologists  have 
tended  invariably  to  the  illustration  of  this  Scrip- 
ture truth.  By  the  collection  of  many  interesting 
facts  relative  to  the  human  race  in  various 
conditions,  Dr.  Prichard  proves  that  the  whole 
human  family  was  derived  from  one  stock. 
If  the  unity  of  the  race  is  not  to  be  made 
out  genealogically,  because  profane  history  does 
not  ascend  so  high  as  to  meet  the  historical 
narrative  of  Moses,  in  reference  to  Gentile  na- 
tions, he  demonstrates  that  unity  by  the  fact,  that 
it  is  essential  to  the  nature  of  man.  Agreeing 
with  Buffon  and  Cuvier,  to  define  species  as  "  a 
constant  succession  of  individuals   capable  of 


OF  LANGUAGE.  127 

reproducing  each  other,"*  he  goes  on  to  prove 
that  there  is  a  law,  prevailing  alike  in  the 
vegetable  and  animal  creation,  which  renders 
the  perpetuation  of  hybrids,  so  as  to  produce 
new  and  intermediate  species,  impossible.  The 
facts  adduced  lead,  with  the  strongest  force 
of  analogical  reasoning,  to  the  conclusion  that, 
as  the  various  tribes  of  men  may,  by  inter- 
marriage, perpetuate  their  race,  they  belong  to 
the  same  species. f  Additional  light  is  thrown 
on  the  subject  by  his  careful  analysis  of  collected 
evidence  on  the  nature  and  origination  of  varie- 
ties. He  appears  to  us  to  have  solved  all  the 
elements  of  the  problem  by  a  course  of  patient 
and  impartial  induction.  The  great  question 
is,  Could  such  various  nations  and  tribes,  as 
are  now  existing  amongst  men,  have  all  sprung 
from  one  stock  ?  In  answer  to  this  he  proves, 
by  an  appeal  to  facts,  that  sporadic  or  acci- 
dental varieties  may  arise  in  one  race,  tending 
to  produce  in  it  the  characteristics  of  another  ; 
that  these  varieties  may  be  perpetuated  ;  and 
that  food,  climate,  employment,  and  other  se- 
condary causes,  account  for  the  existing  varie- 
ties of  the  human  race,  and  for  the  perpetuation 
of  these  peculiarities. 

This  conclusion,  in  harmony  with  ascertained 
fact,  commends  itself  to  our  judgment  by  its  sim- 
plicity and  sufficiency.  "  It  is  superfluous  to  do 
by  many  means  what  may  be  done  by  fewer. 
This  is  an  axiom  received  into  courts  of  judica- 

*  "  La  succession  des  individus  qui  se  reproduissent  et  se 
P»rp<5tuent,"  Buff.  "  His.  Nat."    Cuv.  "  Regne  Animal." 
t  "  Natural  History  of  Man,"  sections  iv.  and  v. 


128  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ture  from  the  schools  of  philosophers.  l  We 
must  not,  therefore,'  says  our  great  Newton, 
1  admit  more  causes  of  natural  things  than 
those  which  are  true,  and  sufficiently  account 
for  natural  phenomena.'  But  it  is  true  that 
one  pair,  at  least,  of  every  living  species,  must, 
at  first,  have  been  created;  and  that  one  human 
pair  was  sufficient  for  the  population  of  our 
globe  in  a  period  of  no  considerable  length,  is 
evident  from  the  rapid  increase  of  numbers  in 
geometrical  progression."* 

A  French  analogical  philosopher  maintains, 
absurdly  enough,  that  there  were  twelve  original 
families  of  men.  He  has,  however,  no  better 
reason  for  his  bold  assertion  than  this,  that,  in 
the  chromatic  scale  of  music  there  are  twelve 
notes ;  that  there  are  twelve  signs  in  the  Zodiac ; 
and  that  there  were  twelve  tribes  in  the  house 
of  Israel,  representatives  of  the  human  family. 
But  the  twelve  signs  are  unitized  by  one  sun  ; 
the  twelve  notes  originate  in  the  unity  of  sound ; 
and  the  twelve  tribes  all  descended  from  one 
father — whose  name  they  bore.  Unity  is  the 
true  principle  of  commencement,  and  from  it 
varieties  proceed. 

The  unity  of  all  the  human  race,  once  ad- 
mitted, goes  far  to  demonstrate  the  unity  of 
original  language ;  because  the  inference  is 
just,  that,  as  all  the  varieties  of  men  descended 
from  one  common  pair,  so  our  diversified  lan- 
guages originated  in  theirs.  The  verbal  affini- 
ties and  grammatical  structure  of  existing 
languages  strikingly  indicate  the  fact  that  they 
*  Sir  William  Jones's  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  187. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  129 

all  bear  a  common  relation  to  one  primitive 
source;  such  affinities  are  sought  in  words, 
which  are  regarded  as  the  material  of  all  lan- 
guage ;  and  in  grammar,  which  is  looked  upon- — 
not  as  the  moulding  or  fashioning  of  this  mate- 
rial, but — as  an  essential  element  in  the  compo- 
sition of  language.  If  there  be  danger,  while 
tracing  out  mere  verbal  affinities,  of  being  con- 
ducted into  a  region  of  fancy  rather  than  of 
facts,  as  unquestionably  there  is,  this  danger  is 
readily  avoided  by  adopting  the  safe  and  satis- 
factory principles  of  procedure  which  have  been 
laid  down  by  modern  philologists  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

In  reference  to  verbal  affinities,  Dr.  Wiseman 
has  thus  enunciated  the  rule  :  "  Not  to  take 
words  belonging  to  one  or  two  languages  in 
different  families,  and  from  their  resemblance, 
which  may  be  accidental  or  communicated, 
draw  inferences  referable  to  the  entire  families 
to  which  they  respectively  belong,  but  to  com- 
pare words  of  simple  import  and  primary 
necessity,  which  run  through  the  entire  fami- 
lies, and  consequently  are  aboriginal  therein." 
Mr.  Sharon  Turner*  applied  this  principle  in 
tracing  a  common  relation  between  all  the 
great  groups  of  families  of  language,  so  as  to 
demonstrate  their  connexion  with  a  primitive 
language,  with  considerable  success.  Begin- 
ning with  the  numerals  of  nations,  he  shows 
that  they  are,  in  a  vast  majority  of  cases,  com- 

*  In  the  published  Transactions  of  the  Roval  Society  ol 
Literature,  vol.  i. 


130  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

binations  of  simpler  terms,  used  also  for  nume- 
rals by  other  nations,  not  in  immediate  con- 
tiguity, and  who,  in  other  respects  than  those, 
appear  to  have  no  visible  relationship.  In 
several  hundred  cases  he  brings  illustrations  of 
analogy  in  the  terms  by  which  the  numbers 
one  and  two  are  expressed  by  various  nations, 
with  a  view  to  show  that  they  are  described  by 
simple  sounds  of  one  syllable  ;  or  which  are 
resolvable  into  these  simple  elements,  and, 
most  probably,  were  always  made  from  them. 
Thus  the  sounds  e,  i,  y,  used  by  the  Chinese 
for  one,  are  traced  in  various  combinations  with 
each  other,  or  with  the  addition  of  certain  con- 
sonants, in  a  multitude  of  tongues.  So  with 
the  number  two;  and  especially  in  the  very 
extensive  uoe  of  the  form  duo,  which  is  identical 
with  it,  and  is  familiarized  to  us  in  the  well- 
known  Greek  and  Latin  terms.  Upwards  of 
seventy  languages  are  cited,  in  which  that  form 
of  expressing  this  numeral  is  used.  Illustra- 
tions of  the  analogy,  equally  remarkable,  are 
furnished  in  several  of  the  higher  numbers. 
We  subjoin  a  table  of  numerals,  in  which  the 
resemblance  is  striking,  placing  the  English 
near  the  centre,  so  that  the  eye  may  readily 
trace  the  conformity  in  the  languages  ranged 
on  each  side  of  it. 


OF  LAKGUAGE. 


131 


A 

u 

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1 

J?£ 

S3 

c 

0) 

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S3 

C 

T3-5 

■H 

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"£. 

to 

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— "-' 

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p. 

(J 

ro 

^ 

C 

"3 

in 

& 

£ 

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"3 

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'o 

'3 

a 

>o 

^ 

.x 

to 

CO 

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3 

■a 

a 

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.3 

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s 

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"3 

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£ 

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to 

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9) 

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-3 

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c 

to 

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T3 

ZJ 

c 

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s 

03 

CO 

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"3 

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— 

.3 

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ft 
S3 

to 

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S3 

to 

■a 

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eg 

S3 

3 

CO 

132  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

In  some  of  these  cardinal  numbers  a  striking 
resemblance  "will  be  found,  as  in  the  numbers 
two,  three,  six,  and  nine  ;  while  in  the  whole 
there  may  be  traced  a  remarkable  conformity. 
Professor  Bopp  observes,  in  explanation  of 
some  exceptions,  "  In  the  designation  of  the 
number  one,  great  difference  prevails  among 
the  Indo-European  languages,  which  springs 
from  this,  that  the  number  is  expressed  by 
pronouns  of  the  third  person,  whose  original 
abundance  affords  satisfactory  explanation  re- 
garding the  multiplicity  of  expressions  for 
one."* 

The  apparent  discrepancies  of  the  table  are 
fully  removed  when,  in  addition  to  this,  it  is 
considered  that  letters  of  the  same  class,  and 
pronounced  by  the  same  organs,  are  inter- 
changed readily  one  with  the  other.  The  trans- 
formations that  thus  occur  between  the  English, 
German,  and  other  languages,  are  very  numer- 
ous. As  an  illustration  of  our  meaning,  we 
observe  that  the  Sanscrit  word  for  the  numeral 
ten,  dosha,  and  the  German  word  for  the  same 
number,  zehen,  have  but  one  letter  in  common  ; 
and  yet  no  doubt  need  be  entertained  respecting 
their  identity,  when  it  is  shown  that  the  d,  in 
Sanscrit,  constantly  corresponds  to  z,  in  Ger- 
man; and  that  the  palatal  s,  of  the  Sanscrit, 
corresponds  to  the  German  h. 

Mr.    Turner,     in    pursuit    of    his    interest 

ing  object,    undertook    an    extensive    inquiry. 

with  a  view  to  ascertain  whether  the  words 

used  in  different  and  remote  languages  of  the 

•  Comparative  Grammar,  p.  416. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  133 

world  to  express  the  first,  the  clearest,  and  the 
most  universal  relations  of  human  life,  would  be 
found  to  eonfirm  or  to  overthrow  the  conclusion 
suggested,  as  the  result  of  previous  investi- 
gations, in  the  department  of  cardinal  numbers. 
In  the  course  of  his  researches  he  collected 
three  hundred  and  fifty- nine  words,  which  have 
been  used  in  as  many  different  languages  or 
dialects  to  express  the  idea  of  mother.  These 
words,  while  susceptible  of  some  very  remark- 
able arrangements  and  classifications,  were 
found,  in  the  great  majority  of  instances,  to 
fall,  naturally,  within  two  large  classes  ;  the 
one,  in  which  the  letter  m  is  the  governing 
sound,  as  in  ma,  mamma,  matar  (Sanscrit ;) 
and  the  other  in  which  the  letter  n  prevailed, 
as  in  na,  nae,  etc.  In  like  manner  he  found 
the  idea  of  father  expressed  generally  by  da, 
pa,  papa,  and  words  of  similar  construction. 
The  analogies  in  words  expressive  of  other 
common  relations  of  life  he  traced  out  with 
equal  clearness,  in  terms  conforming  more  or 
less  closely  to  the  Sanscrit  words  bhrdtar,  bro- 
ther, and  dukitar,  daughter. 

The  fact  of  extensive  conformity  in  languages 
the  most  dissimilar  to  each  other  in  many  par- 
ticulars, has  been  pointed  out  by  other  writers, 
in  an  assemblage  of  words  expressive  of  com- 
mon universal  ideas,  or  which  relate  to  things 
of  daily  occurrence  or  observation  :  as  the 
pronoun  /  or  me,  and  its  plural  forms  ;  the 
words  descriptive  of  nature;  the  terms  used  to 
express  the  elements  water  and  fire;  and  those 
descriptive  of  mountains.  "  The  far  greater  part 
12 


1  34  THE  ORIGIN  AND  1'ROGRESS 

of  the  names  of  mountains,  lakes,  and  rivers  in 
the  British  islands,  are,  to  this  day,  descriptive 
and  significant  only  in  some  Celtic  language. 
The  appellations  of  these  vast  and  permanent 
parts  of  nature  are  commonly  observed  to  con- 
tinue as  unchanged  as  themselves."*  A  few 
specimens  only  of  extensive  illustrations  in  this 
department  are  furnished  in  the  following  con- 
formities between  the  English,  Latin,  German, 
Russian,  and  Sanscrit. 


Sans.. 
Sans.. 

.  aghni,  fire 
.  by  ma,  cold 

Latin.. 
Latin.. 

.ignis              Russ..  agu 
.  hiems,  winter 

Sans.. 

.  megali,  great 

Greek.. 

.  megale         Saxon. .  maga 

Sans.. 
Sans.. 

Sans.. 

.  sour  go,  a  height 
.  marcca,  frontier 

.  m'ra,  sea 

Latin...  surgo 

English.. .  mark  (land)     German. . 
[mark,  a  frontier. 

Latin.. .  mare            Celtic...  mor 

Sans.. 

.  udakani,  water 

Greek. 

. .  hudor          Welsh. .  igder 

Mr.  Turner  gives  nearly  two  hundred  ex- 
amples of  affinities  between  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Laplandic,  in  words  of  common  and  daily 
use  ;  and  states  that  there  are  many  more  as 
close,  which  he  omits,  that  he  may  not  over- 
burden the  attention  of  his  readers.  From 
these  we  select  the  following. 

ANGLO-SAXON.  LAPLANDtC. 

aide,  help  aide,  a  favour 

aer,  brass  air,  brass 

acer,  a  field  aker,  a  field 

aecse,  an  ax  aksjo,  an  ax 

beam,  a  son  bame,  a  son 

bonda,  a  husband  bond,  a  husband. 

«  Sir  James  Mackintosh's  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  11. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  135 

The  conclusion  deduced  by  Mr.  Turner  from 
the  very  numerous  affinities  of  the  two  lan- 
guages is  thus  stated  :  "  As  the  Laplandic  is  a 
branch  of  the  Hunnish  stock,  which  came  latest 
into  Europe,  its  affinities  with  the  Saxon  indi- 
cate a  consanguinity  from  primeval  ancestry, 
which  concurs,  with  other  resemblances,  to 
corroborate  the  ideas  of  the  original  unity  and 
subsequent  dispersion  of  mankind."  A  good  ' 
idea  of  the  extensive  affinities  of  other  words 
in  the  languages  of  unrelated  nations  may  be 
obtained  by  an  examination  of  the  specimens 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  a  great  number  of 
languages,  in  Adelung  *  and  Chamberlain. 

These  statements  and  examples  will  be  suffi- 
cient, we  apprehend,  to  convince  every  unpre- 
judiced reader  that  the  idea  of  arranging  the 
numerals  and  other  fundamental  terms  ol  gene- 
ral language  into  classes,  according  to  their  more 
primitive  elements  and  apparent  consonances, 
is  not  a  fanciful  undertaking.  The  coincidences 
which  thus  appear  afford  as  much  evidence  as 
such  topics  may  be  expected  to  yield  that  they 
cannot  all  have  been  accidental.  No  doctrine  of 
chances  can  account  for  their  existence.  That  dis- 
tant tribes,  supposing  them  even  to  be  independent 
in  their  origin,  should  accidentally  have  many 
similar  sounds,  may  be  admitted  as  not  only 
possible,  but  highly  probable  ;  at  the  same 
time,  it  must  be  allowed,  that  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  they  would  be  employed  to  ex- 
press very  different  conceptions.  If  fifty  dif- 
ferent nations  were  found  using  the  hexameter 
*  Mithridates  oder  allgemeine  Spracbenkunde. 


136  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

and  pentameter  lines  in  verse,  the  French 
Alexandrine,  or  the  poetical  form  of  Tasso's 
stanzas,  no  reasonable  person  would  suppose 
such  a  conformity  to  be  purely  accidental. 
It  would  arise  either  from  some  inherent  law 
of  poetry,  which  impelled  to  their  adoption,  or 
from  the  study  of  some  prototypes  which  sug- 
gested their  employment.  It  is  still  more  cer- 
tain that  no  chances  of  human  pronunciation 
can  account  for  the  sounds  ma,  and  pa,  and 
their  compounds,  being  fixed  upon  by  so  many 
independent  tribes  to  express  the  relation  of 
parents,  in  preference  to  all  the  other  utterances 
of  the  voice,  if  every  one  of  these  tribes  had 
expressly  invented  them  for  its  own  use,  and 
from  its  own  untaught  impulses.  Their  general 
adoption  indicates  a  common  relation  to  one 
primitive  form  of  language. 

There  is,  moreover,  another  point  of  analogy 
found  in  languages,  equally  important  with  that 
which  we  have  considered.  The  enlightened 
advocates  of  verbal  comparison,  as  we  have 
seen,  do  not  presume  to  found  conclusions  on 
mere  casual  resemblances.  They  do  not  even 
deem  it  sufficient  to  detect  indubitable  analo- 
gies, unless  the  coincidences  are  found  in  words 
which  express  ideas  of  primary  and  universal 
necessity.  And  when  a  tolerably  extensive 
coincidence  is  discovered  in  primitive  words, 
it  is  safe  to  seek  for  the  severer  requirements  of 
conformity  in  grammatical  structure.  Then 
only  is  it  believed  that  the  languages  in  which 
these  coincidences  of  words  and  form  are  found 
should  be  considered  as  related.     This  has  lea 


OF  LANGUAGE.  137 

to  the  discovery  of  a  prevailing  uniformity  in 
the  general  principles  of  universal  grammar. 

It  is  evident  that  all  languages  employ  similar 
classes  of  general  terms,  such  as  pronouns ;  and 
appear  to  connect  them  with  terms  indicating 
action,  so  as  to  produce  verbs,  varying  through 
numbers  and  persons.  They  employ  terms 
descriptive  of  things  and  objects  as  nouns,  and 
adopt  methods  by  which  they  express  the 
relation  of  nouns,  which  we  term  cases.  These 
statements  are  so  obviously  true  as  to  require 
no  illustration.  This  conformity  in  the  general 
principles  of  the  mechanism  of  language  is  too 
decided  and  universal  to  be  explained  by  ascrib- 
ing it  to  an  identity  in  the  metaphysical  opera- 
tions of  the  human  mind,  or  the  creative  genius 
of  differing  nations  who  might  possess  much 
in  common.  "  No  language  has  yet  been  dis- 
covered, either  among  savage  or  polished  na- 
tions, which  was  not  governed  by  rules  and 
principles  which  nature  could  alone  dictate,  and 
human  science  could  never  have  imagined."* 
The  prevalence  of  these  principles  in  all  lan- 
guages points  to  a  common  origin,  and  is  every 
way  incompatible  with  the  irrational  hypothesis 
of  a  thousand  different  tribes  inventing  a  thou- 
sand different  tongues. 

There  are  instances  where,  from  the  action 
of  some  external  cause  upon  a  language,  its 
words  appear  to  assimilate  with  one  tongue, 
and  its  grammar  with  another.  And  there  are 
numerous   instances   in  which  the  words  are 

*  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  an  American  philologist. 
12* 


138  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

unique,  while  the  grammatical  structure  is 
conformed  to  that  of  language  generally.  In 
the  principal  languages  of  America,  we  can 
trace  but  few  marks  of  verbal  coincidence ;  yet 
the  elaborate  mechanism  which  pervades  the 
whole,  and  the  methods  by  which  they  all 
express  very  complicated  relations  and  various 
modifications  of  original  ideas,  evince  the  most 
remarkable  identity.  An  accomplished  writer, 
some  years  since,  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  says : 
"  Of  all  the  European  tongues,  Finnish  is,  per- 
haps, the  most  remote  from  Sanscrit.  The 
numerals  have  nothing  in  common,  and  there 
are  very  few  coincidences  in  the  names  of 
ordinary  objects.  Nevertheless,  the  personal, 
relative,  and  demonstrative  pronouns,  and  the 
terminations  of  the  verbs,  are  composed  of  nearly 
the  same  elements  in  both.  It  would  be  as 
absurd  to  ascribe  this  coincidence  to  accident, 
as  to  suppose  that  one  race  had  borrowed  terms 
of  this  sort  from  the  other.  The  only  rational 
supposition  is,  that  they  are,  in  both  languages, 
derived  from  the  same  source,  and,  conse- 
quently, existed  long  before  Sanscrit  and  Fin- 
nish had  assumed  their  present  forms." 

Mr.  F.  Adelung  has  exhibited  some  remark- 
able affinities  between  the  Russian  and  German. 
He  has  "  put  together  a  few  sentences  in  the 
two  languages,  containing  in  the  whole  fifty 
words,  literally  translated  from  the  one  lan- 
guage into  the  other,  and  striking  out  all  the 
vowels,  and  leaving  only  the  consonants  as  the 
bones  or  skeletons  of  the  words,  has  shown  them 
to  be  exactly  the  same." 


OF  LANGUAGE.  139 

As  an  example  of  languages  which  furnish 
analogies,  both  in  their  grammatical  structure 
and  affinities,  we  subjoin  the  present  tense  of 
the  verb  to  be,  in  the  Latin  and  Russian. 


SINGULAR. 

Latin 

,     sum            es 

est 

Russian 

.     esmi           eti 

esti 

PLURAL. 

Latin         .     sumus        estis  sunt 

Russian     .     esmi  este  siite 

Some  verbal  affinities  between  these  two  lan- 
guages are  presented  in  the  following  instance*, 
which  could,  readily  be  multiplied. 


LATIN. 

RUSSIAN. 

ENGLISH. 

Pastor 

Pastir 

Pastor 

Ovis 

Ovets 

Sheep 

Agnus 

Agnets 

A  lamb 

Spina 

Spinu 

A  thorn 

Pascit 

Paschet 

He  feeds 

Videt 

Vidit 

He  sees 

Jugum 

Igum 

Yoke 

Crumena 

Kamana 

A  purse 

Carus 

Charosch 

Dear 

These  examples  are  principally  taken  from 
Adelung;  but  the  same  principle  and  modes  of 
comparison,  verbal  and  grammatical,  are  em- 
ployed by  Professor  Bopp,  in  his  work  on  the 
Sanscrit,  Zend,  Greek,  Latin,  Lithuanian, 
Gothic,  German,  and  Sclavonic  languages, 
though  his  illustrations  are  principally  derived 
from  an  analysis  of  their  different  grammars. 
Further  illustrations  of  these  coincidences  may 
be  found  in  an  able  article  oo  Language  in  thi 


140  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

Penny  Cyclopaedia,  understood  to  be  the  joint 
production  of  Professor  Long,  Dr.  W.  Smith, 
and  the  Rev.  Philip  Smith,  b.a. 

The  study  of  comparative  languages  ha3 
brought  into  visible  relationship  many  which 
seemed  hopelessly  disunited,  and  "  wide  as  the 
poles  asunder."  Out  of  these,  great  groups  or 
families  have  been  formed,  so  that  nations  and 
tribes,  covering  vast  tracts  of  country,  are  in 
this  study  accounted  one  people,  connected  by 
the  indestructible  tie  of  language.  These  re- 
searches have  tended,  in  almost  every  instance, 
to  diminish  the  number  of  independent  lan- 
guages, to  widen  the  pale  of  the  larger  pro- 
vinces, to  bring  the  number  of  original  stocks 
into  much  nearer  relationship  than  was  at  all 
imagined  half  a  century  since,  and  in  a  most 
beautiful  and  unintentional  manner  to  shed  the 
light  of  confirmatory  evidence  on  the  Scripture 
account  of  the  history  of  the  human  race.  The- 
earliest  disclosures  of  ethnography,  as  to  the 
enormous  number  of  languages  spoken  through- 
out the  world,  threatened  to  falsify  the  Mosaic 
narrative,  but  further  investigations  brought 
out  results  overwhelmingly  fatal  to  infidelity. 
As  one  language  after  another  took  its  place  in 
the  group  to  which  it  belonged,  these  groups 
Avere  found  to  be  included  in  a  yet  wider  gene- 
ralization. Of  the  nature  of  these  affinities  and 
their  results,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  speak  in 
general  terms,  availing  ourselves  of  the  state- 
ments of  some  of  the  most  gifted  of  the  literati 
of  Europe  in  this  department  of  scholarship. 

Eeferring  to  the  conclusions  of  Humboldt, 


OF  LANGUAGE.  141 

Klaproth,  Schlegel,  Niebuhr,  Balbi,  Pott, 
Adelung,  and  Vater,  Dr.  Wiseman  observes  : 
It  was  found  that  the  Teutonic  dialects  re- 
ceived considerable  light  from  the  language  of 
Persia;  that  Latin  had  remarkable  points  of 
contact  with  Russian  and  the  other  Sclavonic 
idioms ;  and  that  the  theory  of  the  Greek  verbs 
in  mi  could  not  be  well  understood  without 
recourse  to  their  parallels  in  Sanscrit  or 
Indian  grammar.  It  was  demonstrated  that 
one  speech,  essentially  so  called,  pervaded  a 
considerable  portion  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
and,  stretching  across  in  a  broad  sweep  from 
Ceylon  to  Iceland,  united  in  a  bond  of  lan- 
guage nations  possessing  the  most  dissimilar 
institutions,  and  bearing  but  a  slight  resem- 
blance in  physiognomy  and  colour.  This  family 
has  received  the  name  of  Indo-Germanic,  or 
Indo-European.  Its  great  members  are  the 
Sanscrit  and  Persian,  ancient  and  modern; 
Teutonic  with  its  various  dialects ;  Sclavonian, 
Greek,  and  Latin  accompanied  by  numerous 
derivatives;  and  to  these  must  be  added  the 
Celtic  dialects.  Extensive  is  the  territory  occu- 
pied by  these,  including  the  whole  of  Europe, 
excepting  only  the  small  tracts  held  by  the 
Biscayan  and  Finnish  family ;  thence  it  extends 
over  a  great  part  of  Southern  Asia.* 

The  interesting  nook  in  Spain,  and  Aqui- 
taine,  in  France,  constituting  one  of  these  small 
exceptions,  is  occupied  by  the  Basque,  who  are 
supposed  to  be  a  remnant  of  the  old  Iberians, 

*  Wiseman's  Lectures  on  the  Connexion  between  Science 
and  Revelation,  vol.  i. 


142  TIIE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

whose  language,  though  it  contains  words  of 
Celtic  and  Latin  origin,  has  essential  differences, 
which  shut  it  out  from  the  Indo-European 
family.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Iberians  arrived 
in  Europe  before  the  Indo-European  nations, 
and  maintained  their  language  distinct  from 
that  of  the  tribes  who  surrounded  them. 

Further  researches  have  not  only  confirmed 
the  general  conclusions  touching  the  affinities 
of  the  Indo-European  languages,  but  have  dis- 
closed wider  coincidences.  Klaproth,  by  his 
journey  to  the  Caucasus,  has  made  it  clearly 
appear,  that  the  Armenian  language,  contrary 
to  previous  supposition,  is  a  branch  of  this 
great  family.  He  has  published  a  vocabulary 
of  Armenian  words,  occupying  seventeen  quarto 
pages,  in  which  a  considerable  proportion  is 
proved  to  be  Indo-European.  The  Affghan 
language,  also,  which  was  supposed  to  be  an 
exception,  has  been  included  in  the  same 
family.  Klaproth  compared  a  vocabulary  ot 
more  than  two  hundred  Affghan  words,  and 
proved  them  to  belong  to  the  same  race.  The 
Hungarian  has  been  shown  to  belong  to  the 
Finnish  family,  though  left  out  by  Wiseman, 
and  this  has  been  found  to  include  various 
nations,  extending  over  the  north  of  Asia. 
The  principal  of  these  are  the  Tschudish  and 
Samoiede,  in  whose  languages  numerous  ana- 
logies are  found  with  the  Caucasian.  These 
coincidences  are  not  attributable  to  accident, 
nor  to  recent  intercourse,  and  "  they  consist  of 
words  designating  the  most  simple  and  universal 
objects."     Dr.  Prichard  states  that,  in  the  few 


OF  LANGUAGE.  143 

specimens  we  have  of  the  dialects  of  the  Mor- 
danans,  and  other  Tcshudish  nations,  and  in 
those  of  the  Samoiede  stock,  he  observed  traces 
of  coincidence  with  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

Another  great  family  of  languages  embraces 
those  which  are  well  known  as  the  Shemitic,  or 
Semitic,  languages.  Of  these  there  is  no  neces- 
sity for  speaking  at  any  length,  as  the  intimate 
relationship  between  the  dialects  into  which 
they  branch  out  has  long  been  acknowledged. 
They  include,  among  others,  the  Hebrew, 
Syriac,  Chaldaic,  Arabic,  and  Abyssinian,  and 
the  old  Phoenician  languages.  An  exception 
lias  been  taken  to  the  name  of  this  group  on  the 
ground  that  these  languages  were  not  peculiar 
to  the  race  of  Shem,  nor  yet  co-extensive  with 
it.  And  it  has  been  proposed  to  adopt  the  term 
Phcenicio-  Shemitic,  as  implying  the  two-fold 
character  of  the  races  who  used  these  languages ; 
the  Phoenician  branch  of  the  race  of  Ham,  as 
well  as  the  western  division  of  the  family  of 
Shem.*  It  is  not,  however,  very  probable  that 
any  change  of  designation  will  be  readily  ad- 
mitted for  this  well-known  family  of  languages. 
They  are  related  closely  to  each  other  in  struc- 
ture and  in  words,  as  the  Chaldee  and  Syriac, 
with  the  Samaritan  to  the  Hebrew.  There  is 
a  striking  conformity  in  the  Ethiopic  to  the 
Hebrew,  and  the  Arabic  is  very  similar  to  the 
last-mentioned  language.  "  In  this  tongue  were 
laid  up  the  mysteries  of  the  Old  Testament.  It 
began  early,  and  continued,  and  increased  in 
glory,  till  the  captivity  in  Babylon.  The  whole 
*  See  Preface  to  Gesenius'  Hebrew  LexicoD.  Bagster's  edition. 


144  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

tongue  is  contained  in  the  Bible  ;  and  no  one 
book  else  in  the  world  contains  in  it  a  whole 
language."* 

The  Malayian  languages,  as  they  have  been 
called,  lead  us  in  their  examination  to  a  con- 
clusion similar  to  that  resulting  from  a  review 
of  other  groups.  According  to  Marsden  and 
Crawford,  who  have  written  on  these  languages, 
they  should,  however,  rather  be  called  the 
Polynesian  than  the  Malayian  family,  as  the 
Mala}r,  properly  so  called,  is  only  one  among 
many  to  which  it  is  related.  In  all  the  lan- 
guages comprised  in  this  group  there  is  a  great 
tendency  to  the  monosyllabic  form,  and  to  the 
rejection  of  all  inflexion,  by  which  they  ap- 
proximate to  the  neighbouring  groups  of  Trans- 
gangetic  languages,  with  'which  Dr.  Leyden  is 
induced  to  unite  them.  Thus,  again,  we  have 
another  large  family  stretching  over  a  vast 
portion  of  the  globe,  and  comprising  many 
languages  which,  a  few  years  ago,  Mere  consi- 
dered independent  of  each  other,  and  related  by 
no  one  common  tie  or  principle. 

With  the  languages  of  Africa  we  are  less 
familiar  than  with  those  of  most  other  parts  of 
the  Old  "World.  The  prevalence  of  the  cruel 
and  inhuman  slave-trade  carried  on  upon  the 
African  coast,  and  the  destructive  influence  of 
the  climate  of  that  continent  on  European  life, 
have  hitherto  mournfully  checked  the  progress 
of  Christian  missions  in  that  region  of  barbarous 
idolatry.  The  same  causes  have  limited  the 
enterprises  of  commerce,  and  the  researches  of 
*  Dr.  Lightfoot's  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  48. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  145 

travellers.  Consequently,  no  very  extensive  or 
accurate  comparison  of  these  languages  has  yet 
been  effected.  In  the  darkness  of  ignorance 
concerning  them,  there  has  been  a  tendency  to 
exaggerate  their  probable  numbers.  Seetzen 
spoke  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  languages  as  pre- 
vailing in  Africa;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
from  the  analogy  supplied  by  the  other  quarters 
of  the  globe,  and  from  the  result  of  incipient  ex- 
aminations, that  this  number  may  be  actually 
reduced  to  one-fourth  or  to  one-fifth  of  that 
amount.  Dr.  Prichard  affirms  that  every  new 
research  in  the  African  dialects  displays  con- 
nexions between  tribes  the  most  dissimilar,  and 
even  between  those  which  are  geographically 
separated  by  intermediate  nations.  In  the 
north,  he  says,  conformities  are  to  be  found 
in  the  languages  spoken  by  the  Berbers  and 
Tuaricks,  from  the  Canaries  to  Sava;  in  central 
Africa,  between  the  dialects  spoken  by  the 
Felatas  and  Foulahs,  who  occupy  nearly  the 
whole  interior  ;  and  in  the  south,  among  the 
tribes  across  the  whole  continent  from  Caffre- 
land  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.* 

The  American  languages  were  once  thought 
to  be  all  but  innumerable,  and  to  be  totally 
independent  of  each  other ;  but  even  these 
strange  tongues  of  the  New  World  are  now 
found  to  be  comparatively  few,  and  to  be 
united  to  each  other  by  a  strong  family  tie. 
"  From  a  careful  examination,"  says  the  Eev. 
J.  D.  Conybeare,  "  of  the  information  which 
Yater,  in  his  great  philological  work,  has  col- 

*  Celtic  Researches,  p.  61. 
13 


146  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

lected  concerning  the  dialects  of  America,  lam 
persuaded  that  the  distinct  parent  tongues  of 
the  New  Continent  cannot  exceed  forty,  and 
more  accurate  investigations  would  probably 
reduce  that  number."  * 

And  the  process,  which  has  reduced  their 
supposed  numbers,  has  proved  their  close  affi- 
nity. "  Recent  examinations  of  the  structure 
pervading  all  the  American  languages  have  left 
no  room  to  doubt  that  they  all  form  one  indivi- 
dual family,  closely  knitted  together  in  all  its 
parts  by  the  most  essential  of  all  ties,  gram- 
matical analogy.  This  analogy  is  not  of  a 
vague  indefinite  kind,  but  complex  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  affecting  the  most  necessary  and 
elementary  parts  of  grammar  ;  for  it  consists 
chiefly  in  the  peculiar  methods  of  modifying 
conjugationally  the  meanings  and  relations  of 
verbs,  by  the  insertion  of  syllables.  Nor  is 
this  analogy  partial,  but  extends  over  both 
great  divisions  of  the  New  World,  and  gives  a 
family  air  to  languages  spoken  under  the  torrid 
and  arctic  zones,  by  the  wildest  and  the  more 
civilized  tribes."  f 

American  philologists  have  bestowed  much 
attention  on  this  subject.  The  result  is  that 
striking  analogies  have  been  recognised,  not 
only  in  the  more  perfect  languages,  as  that  of 
the  Incas,  the  Mexican,  and  the  Cora,  but 
also  in  languages  extremely  rude.  Idioms,  the 
roots  of  which  are  most  dissimilar,  have  sur- 
prising resemblances  of  internal  mechanism. 
All  the  languages  of  America,  so  far  as  they 
*  Bristol  Lectures,  p.  288.    +  Conybeare's  Lectures,  p.  389. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  147 

have  been  investigated,  appear  to  have  a  dis- 
tinctive character  in  common  with  each  other, 
and  differing  from  those  of  the  other  continents. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  hazard  an 
opinion  on  the  probable  number  of  what  may 
be  termed  the  parent  languages  of  the  world, 
by  summing  up  the  results  which  have  thus 
been  patiently  arrived  at.  From  these  it  will 
appear  that,  allowing  the  opinion  to  be  founded 
in  fact,  that  there  are  five  hundred  existing 
languages  and  dialects,  differing  more  or  less  in 
structure,  in  words,  or  pronunciation,  yet  the 
tongues  which,  in  any  sense,  can  be  called 
parent,  must  be  reduced  to  a  comparatively 
small  number.  The  languages  of  Asia,  it  is 
thought,  amount  to  about  twenty-three,  to  which 
Europe  adds  only  one,  namely,  the  Basque. 
America  furnishes,  probably,  about  forty,  and 
Africa,  it  is  believed,  about  twenty-five.  These 
swell  our  estimate  of  the  parent  tongues  of  the 
whole  globe  to  eighty-nine.  Many  of  these  it 
must,  however,  be  remembered,  stand  in  near 
relations  to  others  which  compose  great  families, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  notices  furnished  of  the 
Malay,  Semitic,  and  Indo-European  families  ; 
while  all  these,  however  dissimilar  to  each 
other  in  a  thousand  particulars,  have  features 
common  to  each  and  to  all,  which  point  to  the 
fact  of  a  common  origin. 

"  Now  if  we  look  at  the  inferences  deducible 
from  this  leading  and  indisputable  fact,  we 
should,  even  if  we  were  unable  to  advance 
another  step,  find  these  inferences  most  satisfac- 
torily converging  towards  the  biblical  theory, 


148  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

which  teaches  us  to  regard  the  whole  human 
race  as  a  single  species.  It  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive any  hypothesis  of  the  origin  of  languages, 
which  must  not  necessarily  limit  a  peculiar  lan- 
guage to  the  members  of  a  single  family,  at  the 
period  of  its  first  appearance  ;  and  we  may, 
therefore,  gather  very  satisfactory  evidence, 
that  the  many  million  actual  families  of  the 
earth  must  assuredly  have  descended  from  not 
more  than  one  hundred  families.  It  is  surely 
a  far  easier  step  than  this  to  deduce  that  hun- 
dred from  a  single  family  in  the  first  instance  ; 
and  this  I  call  a  converging  argument."*  Julius 
Klaproth,  to  whose  magnificent  work,  the  "Asia 
Polyglotta,"  we  have  before  alluded,  says,  with 
a  confidence  which,  in  such  a  man,  is  not  un- 
becoming, "  He  flatters  himself  that,  in  his 
works,  the  universal  affinity  of  language  is 
placed  in  so  strong  a  light,  that  it  must  be 
considered  by  all  as  completely  demonstrated." 
Let  infidelity,  renouncing  its  flippancy  and 
boldness  of  conjecture,  philologically  overturn 
these  conclusions,  or  henceforth  be  silent,  and 
forbear  to  blaspheme  ! 

*  Archaeologia  Americana,  vol.  iL 


OF  LANGUAGE.  149 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

\dditional  historical  confirmations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
—The  state  of  society  and  language  after  the  deluge — 
Confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel— The  period  of  its  occur- 
rence—Scripture statement  of  the  miraculous  event  — 
Scene  of  the  division  —  Evidence  for  fixing  it  in  the 
vicinity  of  Babylon  —  Design  of  the  builders  —  Nature  of 
the  confusion— No  other  event  in  history  accounts  for 
all  the  existing  diversities  and  conformities  in  language — 
This  does  fully—  Harmony  in  the  facts  and  the  testimony- 
Confirmation  by  heathen  opinion. 

[n  the  advancing  steps  of  our  subject  we  find 
that  every  part  of  the  biblical  narrative  re- 
specting the  early  history  of  our  race  is  beauti- 
fully illustrated  and  variously  confirmed  by 
the  facts  which  that  history  develops  or  sup- 
plies. And  this  is  especially  the  case  as  we  go 
back  in  thought  to  the  memorable  period  when, 
as  the  waters  of  the  deluge  subsided,  the  ark 
rested  on  one  of  the  highest  summits  of  Ararat — 
a  mountainous  range  in  eastern  Armenia — and 
Noah  and  his  family  came  forth  to  re-people 
the  earth.  Society  had  been  thrown  back  by 
the  catastrophe,  and  reduced  to  its  first  ele- 
ments. The  treasures  of  knowledge  had  sunk, 
with  their  possessors,  "  like  lead  in  the  mighty 
waters  ;"  and  the  few  fragments  preserved  in 
the  ark  were  as  so  many  imperishable  seeds, 
from  which  the  tree  of  knowledge  might  grow, 
so  as  to  overshadow  the  race.  The  first  act  of 
13* 


150  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

Noali  after  his  deliverance  was  to  build  an 
altar  to  the  Lord,  and  to  present  a  sacrifice  of 
thanksgiving.  This  was  graciously  accepted. 
God  renewed  his  covenant  with  the  earth,  con- 
firmed to  the  patriarch  the  temporal  blessings 
granted  to  Adam,  with  some  additions,  and 
republished  the  injunction  to  multiply,  to  re- 
plenish the  earth,  and  to  subdue  it.  As  a  sign 
of  this  covenant,  the  rainbow,  which  must  have 
existed  from  the  beginning,  in  consequence 
of  the  immutable  laws  of  the  refraction  and 
reflection  of  the  sun's  rays  in  drops  of  falling 
rain,  was  appointed.  From  this  small  rem- 
nant, mercifully  snatched  from  the  wreck  of 
our  race,  society  started  anew,  with  multiplied 
means  of  social  and  religious  improvement ; 
and  from  this,  as  from  a  fountain,  all  the 
streams  of  population,  with  their  evils  or  bene- 
fits, have  flowed.  Profane  history  gives  her 
effective,  though  tacit,  testimony  to  the  fact  of 
the  deluge  and  to  this  late  commencement  ot 
the  career  of  society.  All  records  of  the  origin 
and  establishment  of  existing  nations  are  sub- 
sequent to  this  period.  No  statements,  on 
which  any  dependence  can  be  placed,  affect  to 
reach  higher,  or  even  so  high.  The  time  when 
communities  became  numerous  or  formidable, 
when  they  extended  their  limits,  planted  colo- 
nies, refined  their  manners,  and  formed  their 
literature,  all  confine  our  attention  within  the 
date  assigned  by  Moses,  as  that  at  which  the 
postdiluvian  race  began  its  career. 

The  period  of  time  which  elapsed  from  the 
deluge  to    that    great  event,  the  confusion  of 


OF  LANGUAGE.  151 

tongues  at  Babel — to  which  we  are  prepared  to 
ascribe  the  origin  of  the  existtng  diversity  of 
languages — has  been  very  variously  computed. 
Dr.  Hales,  to  whose  "Chronology"  we  have 
already  referred,  computes  it  at  six  hundred  and 
one  years.  Shorter  periods  have  been  assumed 
by  other  writers,  but  the  briefest  of  these  would 
be  sufficient  to  allow  of  the  multiplication  of 
the  human  family,  so  as  to  form  the  foundation 
of  many  separate  nations,  when  the  longevity 
of  life,  as  then  possessed,  is  taken  into  account. 
In  the  days  of  Peleg  occurred  a  division  of  the 
earth,  according  to  the  will  of  its  Creator. 
That  is,  we  think,  the  decree  was  then  definitely 
promulged,  and  men  began  in  part  to  act  upon 
it.  Journeying  in  a  prescribed  direction,  they 
suddenly  halted  on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  and 
resolved  to  build  a  tower,  as  a  rallying  point, 
to  prevent  their  dispersion.  Their  ungodly 
design  was  frustrated  by  the  miraculous  confu- 
sion of  tongues  at  Babel.  This  event  pre- 
ceded the  general  dispersion,  and  affected  the 
whole  of  the  descendants  of  Noah  ;  for  the 
settlements  of  the  three  primitive  families  are 
said  to  have  been,  "  after  their  tongues,  in 
their  countries,  and  in  their  nations,"  Gen.  x. 
5,  20,31. 

This  great  event,  which  satisfactorily  ac- 
counts for  all  the  existing  phenomena  of  lan- 
guage, is  thus  narrated  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  : 
"  And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language, 
and  of  one  speech.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they 
journeyed  from  the  east,  that  they  found  a  plain 
in  the  land  of  Shinar ;  and  they  dwelt  there. 


152  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

And  they  said  one  to  another,  Go  to,  let  us 
make  brick,  and  burn  them  throughly.  And 
they  had  brick  for  stone,  and  slime  had  they 
for  mortar.  And  they  said,  Go  to,  let  us  build 
us  a  city  and  a  tower,  whose  top  may  reach 
unto  heaven  ;  and  let  us  make  us  a  name,  lest 
we  be  scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth.  And  the  Lord  came  down  to  see 
the  city  and  the  tower,  which  the  children  of 
men  builded.  And  the  Lord  said,  Behold, 
the  people  is  one,  and  they  have  all  one  lan- 
guage ;  and  this  they  begin  to  do  :  and  now 
nothing  will  be  restrained  from  them,  which 
they  have  imagined  to  do.  Go  to,  let  us  go 
down,  and  there  confound  their  language,  that 
they  may  not  understand  one  another's  speech. 
So  the  Lord  scattered  them  abroad  from  thence 
upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth :  and  they  left  off 
to  build  the  city.  Therefore  is  the  name  of  it 
called  Babel ;  because  the  Lord  did  there  con- 
found the  language  of  all  the  earth  :  and  from 
thence  did  the  Lord  scatter  them  abroad  upon 
the  face  of  all  the  earth,"  Gen.  xi.  1 — 9.* 
The  meaning  of  each  sentence,  and  of  almost 
every  word  in  the  narrative,  has  been  keenly 
contested  and  critically  examined,  while  con- 
clusions the  most  dissimilar  have  been  drawn 
from  the  whole.  It  is  not  our  intention  even 
to  state,  much  less  to  refute,  what  we  deem 
erroneous  interpretations  of  the  passage,  but 
simply,  by  a  few  explanatory  remarks,  to  ex- 
hibit what  we  believe   is   its   real   meaning ; 

*  Compare  Gen.  x.  with  Exod.  xv.  14—16,  and  Deut.  xxxli. 
7-9. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  153 

especially  in  the  bearing  of  the  event  it  de- 
scribes on  the  progress  of  language. 

The  place  of  this  primitive  encampment  is 
usually  allowed  to  have  .been  near  the  site  of 
Babylon.  "  The  city  appears  to  have  received 
its  name  from  the  Aramean  term,  confusion, 
alluding  to  the  confusion  of  tongues  which 
originated  there  ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  con- 
firmatory of  the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptural 
account  of  that  circumstance,  that  the  Arabic 
word  bulbul,  which  is  formed  from  the  same 
root,  should  still  mean  to  talk  with  a  confused 
and  mingled  language  ;  and  that,  even  in  the 
dialects  of  the  Teutonic,  now  used  by  the 
English  and  French,  there  should  be  a  recog- 
nition of  that  event  in  the  application,  in  the 
one  dialect,  of  the  word  babble  to  a  confused 
and  indeterminate  method  of  speech  ;  and,  in 
the  other,  of  the  noun  babillard,  to  denote  a 
man  whose  conversation  is  confused,  or  one 
inordinately  loquacious."*  The  tower  of  Belus 
was,  probably,  the  original  tower  of  Babel, 
repaired  and  finished  by  some  subsequent 
monarchs.  There  are  now  to  be  found  ruins 
of  great  magnitude  and  antiquity  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  ancient  Babylon,  which  the  wan- 
dering tribes  of  the  desert  regard  as  remains  of 
the  stupendous  enterprise  of  its  first  settlers. 
Modern  travellers  tell  us  that  bricks  of  an 
antique  construction  are  there  frequently  dug 
up,  and  that  the  temper  of  these  bricks  is  of  a 
kind  which  nothing  but  the  intense  heat  of  a 
furnace  could  have  effected,  reminding  us  of 
*  Lectures  on  Prophecy,  by  C.  N.  Davies,  p.  78. 


154  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  language  of  the  builders  of  this  memorable 
tower,  "  Let  us  make  bricks,  and  burn  them 
throughly." 

The  supposed  locality  of  this  erection  was 
about  twelve  hundred  miles  from  the  plain  at 
the  foot  of  Ararat,  in  which  the  immediate 
family  of  Noah  dwelt.  By  what  route  the 
travellers  reached  their  place  of  encampment  is 
not  certain.  The  Chaldean  historian,  Berosus, 
says,  "they  proceeded  circuitously  to  Babylon." 
It  is  probable  that  they  followed  the  course  of 
the  Euphrates.  This  river,  rising  in  the 
mountains  of  Armenia,  flows  at  first  in  a 
westerly  direction  ;  then  it  turns  to  the  south, 
and  at  length,  bending  eastward,  it  reaches 
Babylon,  from  the  north-west.  This  route 
corresponds  with  the  Scripture  statement,  which 
represents  the  multitude  as  travelling,  from  the 
original  settlement,  eastward. 

The  design  of  the  people  in  attempting  this 
erection  was  to  get  themselves  a  name,  and  to 
counteract  the  Divine  intention  of  their  being 
scattered  abroad  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  This 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  God,  who  is  said  to 
have  come  down  to  confound  their  plans.  This 
may  be  a  figurative  expression  to  aid  our  con- 
ceptions of  the  Divine  interposition,  or  may 
denote  that  the  Shekinah  was  brought  to  earth, 
attended  with  tokens  of  disapprobation.  In 
either  case,  we  conceive  that  direct  efficiency 
by  the  hand  of  God  is  the  idea  intended  to  be 
conveyed.  The  confusion  introduced  caused 
the  builders  to  desist  from  their  work,  and 
thence  they  were  scattered  abroad. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  155 

The  exact  nature  of  this  confusion  may  be 
determined  from  its  immediate  results.  Words 
derived  from  the  root  v^,  Genesis  xi.  9, 
which  simply  means  confusion,  occur  nearly 
forty  times  in  the  Pentateuch,  in  the  sense  of 
mingling  things  together  so  as  to  produce  com- 
pounds or  heterogeneous  bodies,  as  mingled 
wine,  flower,  and  flesh  for  sacrificial  rites.  It 
is  also  used  in  Hosea  vii.  8,  "  Ephraim,  he 
hath  mixed  himself  among  the  people."  Some 
writers  suppose  that  a  diversity  of  opinion 
among  the  builders,  about  the  erection,  or  con- 
cerning worship,  confounded  their  counsels  ; 
and  others  understand  by  it  a  mere  temporary 
confusion  of  speech.  But  the  plain  express 
terms  of  the  history  go  beyond  these  hypo- 
theses, and  imply  a  permanent  confusion  of 
languages.  This  might  have  been  effected  by 
a  miraculous  breaking  up  of  the  one  language 
into  many,  or  by  a  divergence  into  varieties  of 
dialect  mutually  unintelligible,  with  decided 
alterations  in  the  pronunciation  of  words  re- 
tained in  common,  so  as  to  prevent  their  carry- 
ing out  their  design  in  building. 

There  is  no  recorded  event  in  human  history 
which  can  adequately  account  for  the  existing  di- 
versities and  conformities  in  language — but  this. 
If  it  should  be  said  that  time  and  separation,  and 
the  descent  of  one  language  from  another,  would 
realize  the  present  state  of  things,  we  demand 
proof  of  the  assertion  :  and  none  can  be  given. 
Some  known  languages  of  Asia  have  existed 
four  thousand  years.  In  all  that  time  they 
have  not  approached  nearer  to  each  other  than 


156  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

they  were  in  the  remotest  antiquity  to  which 
We  can  trace  them.     In  all  languages  there  is 
a  strong  tendency  to  preserve   their   original 
structure.     There    is  no  instance  of  a  mono- 
syllabic language  becoming   poly-syllabic;    or 
vice  versd.     The  Sanscrit  and  Chinese  are  un- 
changed by  the  flight  of  time.      Lepsius   has 
proved  the   ancient   Egyptian,    as   written   in 
hieroglyphics,  to  be  identical  with  the   Coptic 
of  the  Liturgy.     The  Basque,  surrounded  for 
ages  by  hostile  idioms,  retains  its  ancient  struc- 
ture.    The   oldest   Greek   is,   in   all  essential 
qualities,  the  same  as  that  of  the  Attic  trage- 
dies.    The  Grecian  tongue  rendered  the  Latin 
language  more  easy  and  pliable,  "  but  not  a 
declension  was  added  to  its  grammar,  a  particle 
to  its  lexicon,  or  a  letter  to  its  alphabet,"  by  the 
efforts  of  Greek  philosophers  and  grammarians. 
This  grand  Scripture  event  accounts  for  all  the 
peculiarities  which  belong  to  language.     Before 
the  social  disruption  at  Babel,   one  primitive 
language  was  universal,  and  this  accounts  for 
all  the  identities  and  resemblances  now  found 
amongst  scattered  and  widely-separated  nations. 
The  confounding  of  the  original  speech  of  man- 
kind fully  explains  the  origin  of  the  variety  of 
languages,   whose  separate  peculiarities  would 
become  more  decided  and  indelible  by  the  lapse 
of  forty  centuries.     As  the  primitive  language 
was  subjected  to  a  violent  disruption,  fragments 
only  of  it  could  be  carried  away  by  each  di- 
verging tribe,  who  would  gradually  build  up 
new   languages,   while  all  retained    some  ele- 
ments of  their  former  speech. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  157 

Such  a  state  of  things  as  that  which  might 
be  supposed  to  result  from  the  confusion  of 
Babel  is  actually  realized  in  the  present  state 
of  the  languages  of  the  world.  They  all 
display  such  affinities  as  suggest  the  idea  of 
a  common  origin,  and  yet  exhibit  such  dis- 
parities as  preclude  the  notion  of  regular 
descent  and  tranquil  formation.  If  the  primi- 
tive language  had  not  been  suddenly  broken 
up,  but  many  languages  had  been  gradually 
formed  from  it,  each  one  might  be  supposed 
to  exhibit  that  general  similarity  to  the  rest 
which  exists  in  the  Spanish  and  Italian  to  the 
Latin ;  and  not  the  correspondence  of  frag- 
ments of  identity,  amidst  far  more  abundant 
diversity  of  materials.  Identity  without  struc- 
tural diversity  would  prove  only  a  common 
derivation  ;  diversity  without  identity  would 
disprove  a  sameness  of  origin  ;  but  so  much 
resemblance,  and  so  much  disparity,  exactly 
coincide  with  the  statement  of  an  anterior 
unity,  and  of  a  subsequent  confusion  and  dis- 
persion 

We  observe,  without  attaching  any  undue 
importance  to  the  circumstance,  that  ancient 
profane  writers  corroborate,  by  their  testimony, 
the  fact  of  a  confusion  of  tongues,  as  occurring 
at  Babylon.  The  fable  of  giants  attempting  to 
climb  the  heavens  probably  originated  in  this 
fact.  Josephus  quotes  one  of  the  Sibyls  as 
affirming  that  all  mankind  spoke  the  same 
language,  till  some  of  them  erected  a  tower, 
immensely  high,  which  was  overthrown  by  the 
gods,  who  assigned  to  each  a  particular  lan- 
14 


158  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

guage.  Alydemes,  as  preserved  by  Eusebius, 
uses  similar  terms  in  reference  to  the  remark- 
able event.  Indeed,  all  early  traditional  ac- 
counts correspond  with  the  Mosaic  in  this  par- 
ticular. The  Greeks  attributed  the  diversity 
of  human  languages  to  a  Divine  interposition, 
though,  according  to  their  practice,  they  have 
wrought  it  up  into  fable.  They  report  that 
under  the  reign  of  Saturn  all  terrestrial  crea- 
tures had  one  common  language,  and  that  they 
sent  a  deputation  to  Saturn,  entreating  that 
they  might  be  endowed  with  immortality.  He, 
in  great  indignation,  refused  their  petition,  con- 
founded their  language,  and  thereby  separated 
and  scattered  them.*  A  tradition,  preserved 
in  an  Egyptian  temple,  describes  whirlwinds 
as  beating  down  a  tower,  when  all  inter- 
course ceased  among  men,  who  strove  in  vain 
to  disclose  their  mind,  but  their  lips  failed  them, 
and  they  produced  a  babbling  sound. f  Thus 
heathens  unintentionally  confirm  the  truth  of 
the  Bible  in  this  particular,  as  in  many  others ; 
and  this  remarkable  transaction  seems  to  be 
blended  with  the  early  recollections  of  most 
ancient  nations. 

*  Redford's  Holy  Scripture  Verified,  p.  158. 
i  t  Bryant's  Mythology,  vol.  iv.  p.  100. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  lo9 


CHAPTER   IX. 

State  of  society  immediately  after  tlie  Dispersion— The  origin 
of  nations — Descendants  of  Shem — of  Ham— of  Japheth — 
Correspondence  in  the  classes  of  languages  to  the  triparte 
division  of  the  human  family — Influence  of  secondary  causes 
in  augmenting  diversities  of  tongues— Deteriorating  process 
of  language— Means  of  its  improvement— The  influenceof  lite- 
rature on  language— Relation  of  poetry  to  prose— Origin  of 
writing  by  alphabetic  characters— It  was  not  the  offspring  of 
hieroglyph ical  symbols— Not  invented  by  different  nations 
— Appears  to  have  been  disclosed  to  Moses  in  the  writing 
of  the  law— Gradually  extended  to  other  nations — Notices 
of  the  materials  employed  in  ancient  writing— Scarcity  of 
books  in  the  dark  ages  —  Invention  and  progress  of 
printing. 

At  the  dawn  of  secular  history,  we  find  the 
ancient  world  occupied  by  tribes,  differing  from 
each  other  in  circumstances  of  physical  consti- 
tution, outward  form,  usage,  and  especially 
language  ;  all  of  which  differences  might  be 
anticipated  from  the  brief  historic  glimpses 
afforded  by  Moses.  The  first  nations,  though 
separated,  were  yet  settled  in  adjoining  coun- 
tries, and  retained,  with  their  characteristic 
differences,  such  a  similitude  to  one  another  as 
distinctly  marked  out  their  common  origin. 
It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  we 
think,  to  trace,  with  perfect  accuracy,  the  wan- 
derings and  settlements  of  subordinate  divisions 
of  the  primeval  family ;  but  the  Scripture 
narrative  in  Genesis  supplies  the  grand  outline 
of  the  principal  settlements.      The  multiplied 


160  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ruins  scattered  along  the  banks  of  the  Eu- 
phrates confirm  the  representation  that  the 
plain  of  Shinar  was  the  depository  of  the 
earliest  memorials  of  the  human  race  and  oi 
human  art.  It  was  the  fountain-head  whence 
the  streams  of  population  flowed  into  all  the 
other  regions  of  the  earth.  Hence  nations,  the 
most  remote  from  each  other,  and  especially 
those  possessed  of  any  tolerable  degree  of  civi- 
lisation, possess  proof  or  retain  traditions  of 
their  connexion  with  the  east,  or  with  those 
that  migrated  from  it. 

From  Noah  proceeded,  according  to  the 
Bible,  three  principal  families,  each  of  which 
became  the  parent  stock  of  many  nations.  It 
is  remarkable,  that  nearly  all  the  known 
inhabitants  of  the  world  can  be  traced  up  to 
one  of  these  three  roots,  and  to  no  others.  The 
domestic  prophecy  uttered  by  Noah,  and  re- 
corded in  Genesis  ix.  25,  27,  respecting  the 
permanent  condition  and  destiny  of  his  three- 
fold descendants,  embraced  such  facts  as  no 
human  sagacity  could  have  foreseen.  It  has 
been  literally  accomplished  in  all  its  parti- 
culars, and  thus  clearly  proves  the  inspiration  of 
the  patriarch.  The  earliest  civilized  nations 
which  inhabited  Asia  and  Africa  appear  to 
have  issued  from  the  line  of  Ham.  The  elder 
stem  of  Japheth  furnished  that  posterity  which 
has  taken  the  lead  of  the  human  race,  since  the 
introduction  of  Christianity,  and  has  become  in 
modern  times  distinguished  for  a  course  of 
civilisation  and  improvement,  which  has  sur- 


OF  LANGUAGE.  161 

passed  all  that  existed  in  the  ancient  eras  of 
humanity.  From  Shem  proceeded  the  Abrahamic 
nation,  and  apparently  the  Assyrian  state,  for 
Asshur  was  his  son,  and  is  said  to  have  built 
Nineveh,  the  metropolis  of  the  Assyrian  empire. 
In  this  line  of  descent  was  Abraham,  who  was 
the  ancestor  of  four  great  streams  of  nations. 
These  were  the  Edomites  or  Idumeans,  the  red 
men  of  the  east,  who  descended  from  his  grandson 
Esau,  and  fixed  their  name  on  the  Eed  Sea ;  the 
Jews,  who  descended  from  his  grandson  Jacob ; 
the  Arabs,  who  were  his  descendants  through 
his  son  Ishmael ;  and  those  tribes  which  arose  in 
the  east  of  Syria  from  his  children  by  Keturah. 
Two  of  these  races,  the  Jews  and  the  Arabians, 
multiplied,  and  have  continued  in  ever-renewed 
and  preserved  generations  to  our  own  time. 

Ham  had  four  sons,  named  Cush,  Mizraim, 
Phut,  and  Canaan.  These  represent,  according 
to  the  Hebrew  geography,  the  regions  and  an- 
cestors of  Ethiopia,  Egypt,  Libya,  and  Canaan. 
Cush  represents  to  us  Ethiopia ;  that  part  of  the 
east  district  of  Africa  which  spread  from  Meroe 
in  Upper  Egypt,  along  the  Eed  Sea,  toward  the 
Indian  Ocean.  Some  of  his  descendants  settled 
in  Arabia,  and  his  most  celebrated  son,  Nirnrod, 
was  the  founder  of  Babylon.  From  Mizraim 
descended  the  colonies  which  established  them- 
selves in  Egypt,  and  several  other  tribes  who 
peopled  portions  of  Africa.  Phut  was  the  an- 
cestor of  the  Libyan  population.  From  one  of 
the  sons  of  Mizraim  sprang  the  Philistines.  His 
son,  Canaan,  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Phoeni- 
14* 


162  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

cians.  The  Sinite  nation  sprang  from  him,  and 
it  now  appears  to  be  represented  by  the  Chinese. 
From  Canaan  sprang  those  depraved  nations 
whom  Israel  drove  out  from  Palestine. 

Japheth  seems  to  have  been  the  ancestor  of 
the  chief  populations  both  of  ancient  and  modern 
Europe,  and  Upper  Asia.  He  had  seven  sons, 
and  as  many  grandsons  from  two  of  the  others. 
The  Turks  and  Tartars,  the  Medes  and  Gre- 
cians, the  Cimmerians  and  Thracians,  with 
many  other  nations,  sprang  from  these.  The 
descendants  of  Javan  appear  to  have  had  large 
relations  with  Europe,  and  to  Japheth  and  his 
offspring  are  ascribed  generally,  by  the  Mosaic 
record,  all  the  insular  or  maritime  popula- 
tions and  colonies  of  the  Gentile  nations. 
"  By  these  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles 
divided  in  their  lands  ;  every  one  after  his 
tongue,  after  their  families,  in  the  nations,'' 
Gen.  x.  5. 

We  find  the  cradles  or  nurseries  of  these  first 
nations,  not  on  the  high  and  barren  tracts  of 
the  earth,  but  on  the  banks  and  estuaries  of 
rivers,  and  on  extensive  plains,  or  in  valleys. 
Three  such  regions  appear  to  have  been  inha- 
bited by  three  descendants  of  the  sons  of  Noah, 
who  became  remarkable  for  founding  cities,  or 
inventing  arts.  In  one  of  these  localities  the 
Semitic  nations  exchanged  the  simple  habits  of 
wandering  shepherds  for  the  splendour  and 
luxury  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  In  the  second, 
the  Japhetic  people  founded  those  institutions, 
and  built  up  those  languages  which  are  now 


OF  LANGUAGE.  1G3 

so  advanced  in  Europe.  In  the  third,  the  land 
of  Ham,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  were  invented 
that  symbolical  literature,  and  those  arts,  in 
which  Egypt  excelled  the  ancient  world. 

Soon  after  the  dispersion  of  these  different 
roots  of  families,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  diversities  of  language,  which  at  first  led  to 
their  separation,  would  begin  to  assume  a  more 
definite  and  permanent  form,  which,  with  the 
lapse  of  ages,  created  the  variety  of  languages 
now  existing  among  men.  As  they  multiplied, 
and  spread  to  a  great  distance  from  each  other, 
the  original  confusion  was  not  only  kept  up,  but 
the  differences  between  their  dialects  became 
greater.  Tribes  that  settled  near  to  each  other 
would,  though  of  different  families,  retain  more 
resemblance  to  each  other's  speech  than  those 
who  became  separated  by  immeasurable  dis- 
tances ;  while  these  last  would  become  in  turn 
the  parents  of  new  nations,  and  propagate  their 
language,  not  only  amongst  their  own  descend- 
ants, but  by  blending  it  with  some  existing  lan- 
guage of  a  conquered  tribe. 

The  triparte  division  of  the  human  family 
appears  to  have  had  a  remarkable  analogy  in 
the  broader  features  of  all  languages.  Hence 
many  philologists  have  included  all  existing 
known  tongues  under  three  great  divisions, 
which  they  distinguish  from  one  another  by  the 
following  characteristics. 

1.  Languages  composed  of  monosyllabic  roots, 
without  the  capability  of  combination  and  con- 
traction, and  hence  without  any  forms  of  gram- 


1G4  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

mar.  To  this  class  belongs  the  Chinese,  in 
which  we  find  nothing  but  naked  roots,  and  in 
which  the  meaning  of  words  is  determined,  not 
by  grammatical  relations,  but  by  the  position  of 
words  in  a  sentence. 

2.  Languages  possessing  monosyllabic  roots, 
which  are  capable  of  combination,  and  which 
thence  derive  a  great  abundance  of  grammatical 
forms.  To  this  class  the  Indo-European, 
American,  and  other  tribes  of  language  belong. 

3.  Languages  whose  verbal  roots  consist  in 
their  present  form  of  two  syllables,  and  require 
three  consonants  for  the  expression  of  their  fun- 
damental meaning.  Of  this  class,  which  em- 
braces the  Semitic  tongues,  the  Hebrew  may  be 
regarded  as  a  familiar  type.  This  family  con- 
tains but  few  examples  of  compound  words, 
and  possesses  few  grammatical  forms. 

The  general  relations  of  languages  included 
in  any  of  these  divisions  may  thus  be  stated. 
Languages  that  differ  from  each  other  as  the 
Anglo-Saxon  from  the  Latin,  differ  as  languages 
of  the  same  tribe,  but  of  different  stocks.  Lan- 
guages that  differ  as  the  Icelandic  and  Anglo- 
Saxon,  differ  as  languages  of  the  same  stock, 
but  of  different  branches.  Those  that  differ 
from  each  other  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Mceso- 
Gothic,  differ  as  languages  of  the  same  branch, 
but  of  different  divisions.  Languages  of  the 
same  division  that  differ  from  each  other  as  the 
English  from  the  Dutch,  differ  as  languages, 
using  the  term  in  a  restricted  sense,  and  in 
opposition   to   such   provincial   differences,  as 


OF  LANGUAGE.  165 

obtain  between  Durham  and  Devon,  which  are 
dialects  of  the  same  language.* 

While  we  affirm  that  nothing  short  of  the  su- 
pernatural agency  employed  at  Babel  could  have 
originated  the  existing  diversity  of  languages,  or 
can  account  for  the  very  early  existence  of  those 
immense  diversities  which  all  ethnical  histories 
attribute  to  the  very  beginning  of  their  re- 
spective nations,  we  believe  that  dialectical 
differences  and  extensive  grammatical  varia- 
tions would  be  effected  by  secondary  causes, 
when  once  the  primitive  division  had  taken 
place.  There  would  be  no  longer  the  attraction 
to  one  common  form  of  speech  derived  from  the 
first  parent,  and  regarded  as  the  gift  of  God, 
which  existed  as  the  bond  of  language  before 
the  confusion.  New  objects  and  new  modes  of 
life  presenting  themselves  to  persons  settling  in 
various  climes  would,  with  new  customs  and 
habits,  produce  a  considerable  number  of  new 
terms,  and  combinations  of  old  ones.  The  amal- 
gamation of  tribes  with  each  other  would  again 
produce  fresh  combinations.  Comparatively 
slight  dialectical  differences  would  gradually 
introduce  considerable  divergence  in  the  forms 
and  sounds  of  words,  inflexions,  and  termina- 
tions. 

Languages  which  have  thus  descended  from, 
or  were  gradually  formed  out  of,  others,  can  be 
readily  identified  by  their  conformity  to  the 
parent  stock,  or  elder  branch.  Thus  the  Greek 
is  supposed,  by  some  writers,  to  be  closely  allied 

*  See  illustrations  of  this  in  Professor  Latham   on  the 
"English  Language,"  chap.  i. 


166  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

to  the  Hebrew,  as  most  of  its  common  words  are 
similar,  when  allowance  is  made  for  changes  in 
the  termination  and  some  characteristic  qua- 
lities. The  resemblance  between  the  English 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon,  between  modern  Greek 
and  ancient  Greek,  the  present  language  of  Italy 
and  the  language  of  classic  Rome,  are  striking 
and  undeniable,  after  all  sorts  of  diverging 
influences  have  been  working  upon  them  for 
more  than  a  thousand  years. 

The  ordinary  causes,  to  which  we  now  refer, 
appear  also  sufficient  to  account  for  the  relative 
perfection  of  different  languages.  By  their  in- 
fluence the  language  of  a  people  may  be  greatly 
deteriorated.  The  founders  of  colonies  have 
often  emigrated  in  small  parties,  or  were  borne 
to  their  destination  by  what  appeared  accidental 
circumstances.  Settling  in  a  waste  uncultivated 
region,  they  would  separate  widely,  and  direct 
their  chief  attention  to  obtaining  the  means  of 
subsistence.  Tims  situated,  neither  they  nor 
their  children  would  require  to  use  all  the  words 
and  forms  of  speech  which  belonged  to  their 
former  condition.  They  would  soon  forget  a 
part  of  their  language  which  they  once  under- 
stood. The  next  generation,  hearing  only  those 
words  spoken  which  their  immediate  wants  de- 
manded, would  understand  less  of  the  language 
familiar  to  their  ancestors.  Such  families  would 
readily  employ  abbreviations,  introduce  vulgar 
^phrases,  and  adopt  peculiar  pronunciations. 
The  stamp  of  custom  would  in  time  give  au- 
thority to  these  forms  of  speech  ;  and  the  lan- 
guage, while  retaining  a  likeness  to  a  family 


OF  LANGUAGE.  167 

group,  would  become  a  deteriorated  member  of 
that  family. 

And  from  such  a  state  of  things  as  that 
which  we  have  now  described  there  may  have 
arisen  the  means  of  improving  a  given  lan- 
guage. We  suppose  some  of  the  scattered 
families,  in  process  of  time,  to  unite,  and  to 
become  mutually  useful  in  the  advancement  of 
the  social  constitution.  As  they  improve  ir 
the  arts  of  life,  new  terms  must  be  found  tc 
express  their  new  ideas.  Their  limited  vo- 
cabulary calls  for  the  invention  of  words 
Their  improved  and  improving  taste  require? 
that  euphony  and  polish  should  characterize 
their  language. ;  and,  while  its  original  foun- 
dation remains  broad  enough  for  its  later 
superstructure,  this  receives  proportion  and 
ornament  corresponding  with  the  advanced 
condition  of  the  people  who  employ  it. 

A  vast  variety  of  circumstances  combined  to 
secure  the  perfection  which  obviously  belonged 
to  some  of  the  ancient  languages,  and  which 
characterizes  the  modern  tongues  of  most 
highly  civilized  nations.  To  them  it  is  a 
vehicle  by  which  the  most  delicate  and  refined 
emotions  of  the  human  heart  are  mutually 
conveyed  ;  by  which  the  most  abstract  notions 
and  conceptions  are  rendered  intelligible  ;  and 
by  which  all  the  ideas  created  by  science,  or 
evoked  by  imagination,  are  accurately  de- 
scribed. To  a  highly  cultivated  people  it  is 
not  the  mere  instrument  of  necessity,  but  an 
auxiliary  to  the  most  exalted  refinement  and 
luxurious   mental    enjoyment.      We    are    not 


168  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

always  satisfied  with  having  the  conceptions  of 
others  made  known  to  us  in  simple  and  un- 
adorned phraseology,  but  we  require  that  they 
should  be  conveyed  to  our  minds  with  all  the 
ornament  and  attraction  of  a  classic  rhetoric — 
with  the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  most  perfect 
style. 

The  literature  of  any  country  cannot  fail 
deeply  and  constantly  to  influence  its  structure 
as  a  spoken  tongue.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  the  commencement  of  literature,  in  all 
those  countries  in  which  it  has  subsequently 
attained  its  greatest  development,  was  prior  to 
the  commencement  of  writing.  The  want  of 
writing-materials,  in  such  a  state  of  society, 
compels  to  the  adoption  of  metre  ;  and  hence 
the  first  composition  in  any  language  is  poetry. 
There  appears  to  be  something  in  the  nature  of 
early  man,  surrounded  with  the  wonders  of 
earth  and  sky,  that  leads  him  to  cultivate 
poetry.  Greece  possessed  a  Hesiod  and  a 
Homer  before  she  could  boast  of  a  prose  his- 
torian. It  is  probable  that,  in  primitive  times, 
there  was  scarcely  in  any  desert  a  wandering 
people  which  had  not  its  lays.  By  most 
nations  poetry  was  employed,  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  their  history,  to  communicate  the  lessons 
of  wisdom,  to  celebrate  the  achievements  of 
valour,  to  promulgate  laws,  and  to  embody 
impressions  of  religion.  Some  of  its  noblest 
productions  are  the  offspring  of  a  transition 
state  of  society  from  comparative  barbarism  or 
rudeness  to  high  refinement;  possessing  much 
of  the  strength  of  the  former,  and  anticipating 


OF  LANGUAGE.  169 

the  superior  polish  of  the  latter.  Extensive 
prose  compositions  are  produced  only  after  a 
long  period  of  civilisation,  when  writing  has 
become  tolerably  easy,  and  writing-materials  are 
sufficiently  abundant.  The  verses  of  the  bard 
may  be  sung  to  the  harp  which  he  attunes, 
but  the  lessons  of  the  sage  are  to  be  inscribed 
on  the  tablet,  in  intelligible  characters.  Prose 
keeps  pace  with  the  logical  development  of  a 
language,  but  early  epic  poems  and  lyrical 
hymns  are  inadequately  provided  with  syntax. 
Writing,  therefore,  can  produce  no  great  effect 
in  the  way  of  improvement  on  the  forms  of  a 
language,  while  it  exercises  a  most  important 
influence  on  the  construction  and  connexion  of 
its  sentences. 

The  Greeks  and  Romans  are  the  two  nations 
in  Europe  amongst  Avhom  Ave  trace  the  use  of 
letters  at  an  early  period.  The  similarity  of 
the  ancient  Latin  characters  to  those  of  the 
early  Greek  alphabet  convinces  us  that  the 
former  were  derived  from  the  latter.  We  are 
then  led  to  inquire  from  whom  the  Greeks 
received  a  knowledge  of  the  art  of  writing? 
The  Ionians  were  the  first  people  in  Greece  who 
possessed  letters,  and  the  characters  they  used 
were  Phoenician.  That  they  were  taught  the 
use  of  them  by  Cadmus  and  his  followers,  was 
affirmed  by  Plutarch,  Herodotus,  and  Plato,  and 
was  the  general  belief  of  the  Greek  nation. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  letters  called 
Phoenician  belonged,  with  some  slight  varia- 
tions, to  several  eastern  nations.  They  are 
15 


170  THE  ORIGIN  ANI>  PROGRESS 

shown,  by  Scaliger  and  others,  to  have  been 
identical  with  the  Samaritan  or  the  old  Hebrew 
character.  The  close  resemblance  of  the  one 
to  the  other  may  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the 
comparative  table  of  ancient  alphabets  formed 
by  Gesenius.  We  have  no  notice  of  an  older 
alphabet  than  the  ancient  Hebrew  ;  and  the 
question  presents  itself  to  us,  Whence,  and  how 
did  the  Jews  obtain  their  knowledge  of  letters  ? 

While  many  writers  have  contended  for  the 
Divine  origin  of  alphabetic  writing,  several 
others  have  adopted  the  opinion  that  it  arose 
naturally,  out  of  hieroglyphical,  or  picture- 
writing,  by  the  construction  of  the  symbols 
into  alphabetical  letters.  In  support  of  this 
theory,  it  is  said  that  the  letters  of  the  primitive 
alphabets  were  originally  intended  for  the  sym- 
bols of  the  things  whose  names  they  bear  ;  as 
aleph,  an  ox  ;  beth,  a  house  ;  gimel,  a  camel ; 
and  daleth,  a  door.  This,  however,  may  be 
doubted ;  for  it  is  probable  that  the  names 
given  to  these  letters  wrere  designed  as  artificial 
helps  of  the  memory,  by  means  of  the  allitera- 
tion— just  as  our  spelling-books  for  children 
frequently  contain  wood-cuts,  in  which  a  is 
connected  with  an  ass  ;  b  with  a  bear  ;  c  with 
a  cat ;  and  d  with  a  dog  ; — without  any  like- 
ness between  the  letters  and  the  objects  being 
either  intended  or  conveyed. 

So  radically  different  are  hieroglyphical 
symbols  from  alphabetical  letters,  that  they 
appear  incapable  of  transmutation  into  each 
other.  The  former  are  imperfect  outlines  of 
figures  represented,  which,  in  process  of  time, 


OF  LANGUAGE.  171 

were  transferred  from  sensible  to  intellectual 
objects,  and  thus  became  a  metaphorical  lan- 
guage ;  whereas  letters  are  arbitrary  marks  of 
a  few  simple  elementary  sounds,  of  the  easiest 
and  readiest  pronunciation,  to  which  they  bear 
no  manner  of  resemblance.  While  it  may  be 
readily  admitted  that  symbols  and  figures  were 
used  to  represent  some  of  the  objects  of  sense, 
before  a  regular  written  language  was  neces- 
sary, it  may  well  be  concluded  that  these  could 
not  originate  alphabetical  characters. 

The  varieties  of  alphabetic  characters  led  to 
the  opinion  that  each  particular  people  invented 
their  own  alphabet.  This  notion,  so  favourable 
to  national  vanity,  induced  several  ancient 
nations  to  deify  the  parties  from  whom  they 
learned  the  art,  or  to  attribute  its  origin  to 
their  local  gods.  Thoth,  or  Mercury,  is  said 
to  have  invented  and  taught  the  Egyptians  the 
use  of  letters.  The  Jewish  rabbins  say  God 
created  them  on  the  evening  of  the  first  sabbath. 
Pliny  seems  to  have  thought  them  eternal. 
Amidst  the  darkness  and  uncertainty  of  these 
and  other  traditions,  we  fail  to  reach  any  sound 
conclusions  on  the  subject,  and,  therefore,  feel 
the  advantage  of  viewing  it  in  the  light  of  re- 
velation. The  fact  is  undoubted,  that  writing 
was  known  to  Moses,  and  practised  by  him. 
It  is  an  opinion,  rendered  very  probable  by 
what  we  know  of  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
that  a  knowledge  of  alphabetical  characters  was 
Divinely  communicated,  in  connexion  with  the 
promulgation  of  the  law  on  Mount  Sinai. 

Previously  to  the  period  when  preparation 


172  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

was  made  for  the  giving  of  the  law,  we  have 
no  notice  of  the  use  of  writing.  Amongst 
all  the  references  to  the  civilized  institutions 
of  the  patriarchs,  there  is  no  allusion  to  this. 
It  is  very  improbable  that  no  reference  should 
ever  have  been  made  to  it,  had  it  been  known 
in  these  early  times.  To  this  must  be  added 
the  fact  that,  after  the  promulgation  of  the 
law,  reference  is  made  in  the  books  of  Moses 
to  the  exercise  of  writing,  upon  all  occasions 
on  which  it  would  be  natural  and  reasonable 
to  make  such  allusions.  All  the  great  events 
which  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  Jews 
were  to  be  written  in  a  book,  and  to  be  re- 
hearsed in  the  hearing  of  the  people,  and  to  be 
taught  by  them  to  their  children.  Nothing 
of  this  sort  was  done  by  Noah,  or  inculcated  on 
him  or  his  sons,  though  most  remarkable 
transactions  had  occurred  in  their  history. 
From  these  considerations,  the  inference  is 
most  reasonable,  that  the  art  of  writing  was 
then  unknown.  And  this  is  the  more  pro- 
bable from  the  fact  that  in  the  antediluvian 
world,  when  the  life  of  man  was  very  pro- 
tracted, there  was  comparatively  little  need  for 
writing  of  any  kind,  as  the  record  of  transactions 
had  to  pass  through  very  few  hands  ;  and  tra- 
dition answered  most  purposes  to  which  writing 
could  have  been  subservient  in  that  early  age. 

That  writing  by  alphabetical  characters 
originated  with  the  giving  of  the  law  appears 
probable  from  the  terms  in  which  that  wonder- 
ful event  is  described.  The  two  tables,  on 
which  the  ten  commandments  were  inscribed, 


OF  LANGUAGE.  173 

were  Divinely  prepared,  and  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  Moses  perfect  and  complete.  This  was 
promised  to  him  by  Jehovah,  who  called  him 
up  into  the  mount,  and  said,  "  I  will  give  thee 
tables  of  stone,  and  a  law,  and  commandments 
which  I  have  written  ;  that  thou  mayest  teach 
them."  Accordingly,  "  he  gave  unto  Moses 
two  tables  of  testimony,  tables  of  stone,  written 
with  the  finger  of  God"  Exod.  xxiv.  12  ;  xxxi. 
18.  From  this  it  appears  that  these  tablets 
were  written,  not  by  the  command  of  God, 
but  by  his  own  hand.  Thus  it  is  added, 
"  The  writing  was  the  writing  of  God,  graven 
upon  the  tables,"  Exod.  xxxii.  15,  16.  When 
the  first  tables  were  broken,  though  Moses 
was  directed  to  prepare  other  tablets  like  those 
destroyed,  the  similitude  of  which  he  might 
easily  remember,  the  precepts  were  again  mi- 
raculously inscribed.  It  is  not  at  all  probable 
that  this  miracle  would  have  been  repeated  if 
Moses  had  then  known  how  to  write.  He 
appears  to  have  learned  the  art  thus  Divinely 
taught  him,  so  that  after  he  came  down  from 
the  mount  the  second  time,  he  was  prepared  to 
write  in  a  book  all  the  precepts  of  the  cere- 
monial law. 

It  is  no  real  objection  to  this  account  that 
Moses  was  commanded  to  write  the  narrative 
of  the  war  with  Amalek  in  a  book;  to  engrave 
the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes  on  the  breast- 
plate of  judgment;  and  to  inscribe  on  the  mitre 
of  Aaron  the  memorable  label,  "  Holiness  to 
the  Lord ;"  as,  from  a  close  examination  of  the 
context  in  which  these  things  are  enjoined,  they 
15* 


174  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

appear  to  have  been  done  after  the  writing  of 
the  law.  And,  if  Moses  were  unacquainted  with 
the  art  of  writing  before  he  ascended  the 
mount,  his  return  with  the  mysterious  and 
living  characters  inscribed  on  the  tablets,  must 
have  conveyed  the  deepest  conviction  to  the 
multitudes  of  his  Divine  legation.  With  one 
exception,  all  the  Hebrew  letters  are  found  in 
the  decalogue.  Every  guttural,  labial,  lingual, 
and  dental  sound  is  there  disclosed.  This  truly 
wonderful  art  thus  appears  to  have  been  perfect 
from  the  beginning,  and,  as  the  origin  oi 
speech  was  Divine,  it  appears  worthy  of  the 
condescension  of  God  to  reveal  to  his  favoured 
people,  and  through  them  to  the  world,  this 
method  of  embodying  fleeting  sounds  and  per- 
ishable ideas  in  various  clusters  of  cabalistic 
characters,  with  which  they  have  no  natural 
connexion. 

From  the  Jews  the  art  of  writing  passed  to 
the  Syrians  and  Phoenicians,  though  we  are 
unable  to  determine,  with  precise  certainty, 
the  period  of  its  transmission.  It  was  not  till 
the  days  of  Samuel  that  any  considerable  addi- 
tions to  the  Jewish  literature,  as  left  by  Joshua, 
began  to  be  made.  This  was  greatly  augmented 
in  the  reign  of  David,  and  principally  by  the 
compositions  of  that  royal  bard  and  prophet. 
During  the  government  of  Solomon,  the  Hebrew 
state  became  remarkable  alike  for  wisdom  and 
splendour,  and  about  that  time,  it  is  probable, 
the  knowledge  of  alphabetical  characters  was 
extended  from  Judaea  to  the  heathen  world. 
There    were    peculiar    facilities    for    this    in 


OF  LANGUAGE.  175 

the  commerce  which  Solomon  maintained  with 
foreign  nations.  The  central  position  of  Judaea 
fitted  it  to  be  the  depository  of  knowledge, 
and,  by  its  diffusion,  to  become  "  the  joy  of 
the  whole  earth."  Her  priests  were  learned 
men,  and  some  of  her  cities  were  so  many 
universities.  Her  prophets,  historians,  and 
poets,  extensively  aided  in  advancing  the  civili- 
sation of  the  world. 

In  the  early  times  of  which  we  speak,  the  art 
of  writing,  and  even  of  reading,  was  available 
only  to  a  favoured  few.  In  many  nations  they 
were  confined  to  the  sacerdotal  and  royal  lines. 
Even  in  our  advanced  period  of  the  world's 
history,  these  advantages  are  mournfully  cir- 
cumscribed amongst  the  most  intelligent  com- 
munities. There  is  a  melancholy  proportion  ot 
our  own  population  now  unable  to  read,  and 
a  still  greater  number  unable  to  write :  so 
slow  is  the  career  of  social  improvement,  with 
all  the  facilities  we  have  for  acquiring  and  dif- 
fusing knowledge.  It  would,  of  course,  be  still 
more  tardy  in  ages  of  comparative  darkness. 

The  most  ancient  remains  of  writing  are  upon 
hard  substances,  such  as  wood,  stones,  and 
metals,  which  were  used  for  edicts  and  matters 
of  public  notoriety.  Writing  on  lead  is  referred 
to  in  the  book  of  Job.  It  was  usually  effected 
with  a  graver,  or  stile  of  iron,  on  leaden  plates. 
Books  were  even  made  entirely  of  lead.  Mont- 
faucon  purchased,  at  Rome,  in  1669,  an  ancient 
volume  of  this  description,  in  Egyptian  gnostic 
figures.  The  covers  and  leaves,  six  in  num- 
ber, the  rings  which  held  the  leaves  together, 


176  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

the  hinges,  and  the  nails,  were  all  of  lead.  It  is 
said  that  the  "Works  and  Days"  of  Hesiod 
were  inscribed  on  a  leaden  table.  Thin  plates  of 
lead,  reduced  to  a  very  great  degree  of  tenuity 
by  the  mallet,  were  occasionally  used  for  episto- 
lary correspondence*  Pliny  says  that  books 
of  wood  were  in  use  before  the  time  of  Homer. 
In  later  times,  tables  coated  with  wax  were 
employed  for  writing,  and  they  continued  in  use 
long  after  more  portable  materials  became  com- 
mon, because  they  were  convenient  for  correct- 
ing extemporary  compositions.  The  Egyptians 
made  use  of  the  reed  called  papyrus,  their  far- 
famed  paper. 

The  Persians,  Ionians,  and  other  ancients, 
made  use  of  parchment — the  skins  of  sheep  and 
goats  suitably  prepared  ;  and  most  existing  an- 
cient manuscripts  are  on  such  materials.  The 
Eomans  wrote  their  books  principally  on  parch- 
ment, and  the  monks  of  the  dark  ages  were 
sometimes  tempted,  by  the  clearness  of  skins, 
to  erase  an  old  manuscript  from  a  parchment 
in  order  to  substitute  a  new  writing.  This 
may  account,  in  part,  for  the  scarcity  of 
ancient  manuscripts.  Masterpieces  of  genius 
have  been  and  may  yet  be  found  beneath  the 
legendary  life  of  a  saint  or  a  martyr,  or  the 
theological  speculations  of  an  early  father.  The 
value  of  parchment  compelled  our  ancestors 
to  observe  a  singular  economy  of  words.  In 
the  rolls  of  fines,  preserved  in  our  national 
archives,  each  contract  for  sale  of  lands  is  com- 
prised in  a  single  line  ! 

*  Tovmley's  Biblical  Literature,  vol.  i.  p.  27. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  177 

Our  present  method  of  writing  on  paper  is  an 
inventi  on  of  no  greater  antiquity  than  the  four- 
teenth century.  Previously  to  this  period,  the 
cost  of  materials  and  the  labour  of  transcribing 
works  must  have  been  enormous  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, the  luxury  of  reading,  and  the  possession 
of  books,  must  have  been  limited  to  a  few  per- 
sons. There  are  many  curious  facts  on  record 
which  show  the  extreme  scarcity  of  books  during 
the  dark  ages.  In  a.d.  G90,  the  king  of  North- 
umberland gave  eight  hundred  acres  of  land  for 
one  book,  containing  the  history  of  the  world. 
A  countess  of  Anjou  parted  with  two  hundred 
sheep  for  a  volume  of  homilies  ;  and  a  hundred 
and  twenty  crowns  of  gold  were  given  for  a 
single  book  of  Livy !  In  Hungary,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  rich  abbey  of 
Pechverad  could  produce  not  more  than  three 
glossaries,  and  one  book  of  homilies,  and  this  at 
a  time  when  a  hundred  and  twenty  horses  stood 
in  its  stalls.  In  a.d.  1270,  a  Latin  Bible  was 
valued  at  £30  ;  at  a  time  when  two  arches  of 
London  bridge  were  built  for  less  money,  and 
when  the  wages  of  a  labourer  were  only  three- 
halfpence  a  day,  when  of  course  it  would  have 
cost  such  a  man  fifteen  years  of  labour  to  buy 
a  Bible. 

The  form  of  ancient  manuscripts  is  various. 
The  Hebrew  ones  are  written  in  columns  and 
are  unrolled,  and  read  from  the  right  hand  to 
the  left.  They  are  usually  attached  to  a  cylinder 
at  each  end.  Many  other  oriental  manuscripts 
are  unrolled  perpendicularly.  Some  of  the 
very  fine  Persian  and  Arabic  manuscripts  are 
written  upon  a  kind  of  thin  pasteboard,  and, 


178  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

being  joined  at  the  back  and  front,  fold  up  like 
pattern  cards.  The  use  of  some  kind  of  ink 
was  known  at  an  early  period,  for  Jeremiah 
speaks  of  writing  with  it,  chap,  xxxvi.  18. 
Reeds  and  canes  were  used  for  writing  on  soft 
materials.  Isidore,  a  writer  of  the  seventh 
century,  describes  a  pen  made  of  a  quill,  as  used 
in  his  time.  The  invention  of  printing  has 
superseded  the  slow  and  laborious  task  of  copy- 
ing manuscripts,  and  tends  to  give  permanence 
to  the  structure  of  the  languages  in  which  it  is 
extensively  employed.  We  recognise  in  the 
printing-press  one  of  the  most  important  agents 
which  this  age  of  wonders  is  privileged  to 
enjoy,  and  may  appropriately  finish  this  chapter 
by  an  allusion  to  its  history. 

The  art  of  printing  by  metallic  movable 
types,  now  generally  ascribed  to  John  Gutten- 
burg,  was  successfully  practised  in  Germany  > 
in  the  year  1450.  It  soon  passed  into  Bohemia, 
and  thence  into  Italy.  Not  many  years  elapsed 
before  it  was  practised  in  Holland,  whence  it 
was  brought  to  England.  By  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century  it  had  travelled  to  most  of  the 
states  of  Europe,  and  was  known  at  Constanti- 
nople. In  the  following  century  it  was  intro- 
duced to  a  new  world  in  Mexico,  and  winged 
its  way  even  to  India  and  Japan.  In  1639,  it 
Avas  introduced  to  the  British  settlements  of 
North  America ;  and  is  now,  with  its  improved 
methods  of  working,  overspreading  the  civilized 
world. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  179 


CHAPTER   X. 

Historical  sketch  of  European  languages— The  formation  of 
modern  languages— The  English  language— Its  grammatical 
superiority — Its  verbal  strength  and  beauty  —  Elements 
which  enter  largely  into  its  composition— History  of  its 
progress  and  completion  —  Question  of  a  universal  lan- 
guage—Prospects of  the  extension  of  the  English  tongue — 
Comparative  advantages  of  written  and  spoken  language 
—Conclusion, 

In  attempting  such  a  sketch  of  the  progress  of 
language,  as  may  be  compatible  with  the  brief 
limits  of  this  essay,  we  shall  principally  fix 
attention  on  the  history  of  modern  languages  in 
general,  and  of  the  English  language  in  parti- 
cular. While  the  language  in  which  Aristotle 
and  Plato,  and  other  men  of  mighty  intellect, 
wrote,  has  for  two  thousand  years  exerted  a 
commanding  influence  on  the  character  of  the 
human  mind,  both  in  Europe  and  Asia,  its 
power  was  more  directly  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  Roman  language  and  literature  than  on 
that  of  any  other  people.  "  The  later  literature 
of  the  Romans  is  such  as  to  keep  us  perpetually 
in  mind  of  its  origin  ;  and  few  are  now  disposed 
to  question  the  truth  of  the  common  assertion, 
that  the  Roman  writers  are  in  general  mere 
imitators  of  the  Greeks."*  There  is,  never- 
theless, a  character  peculiar  to  the  Roman 
language,  belonging  not  so  much  to  the  litera- 
*  F.  Schlegel's  Lectures,  iii. 


180  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

ture  as  to  the  nation.  Rome  is  the  great  point 
of  union  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern 
world  in  language  and  literature,  as  in  many- 
other  things. 

The  formation  of  the  modern  languages  of 
Europe  is  intimately  connected  with  the  decline 
of  the  Latin  language.  This  tongue,  which  had 
long  before  reached  its  meridian,  began  to  be 
corrupted  in  the  fifth  century,  as  soon  as  the 
Goths  and  Lombards,  who  derived  their  origin 
from  Germany,  had  gained  possession  of  Italy. 
The  Italian  language  gradually  assumed  its 
present  form  and  character,  and  its  deviation 
from  the  Latin  was  particularly  marked  by  the 
use  of  articles,  instead  of  the  variations  of  cases, 
and  of  auxiliary  verbs,  instead  of  many  changes 
of  tenses.  As  the  Goths  extended  their  con- 
quests, they  blended  their  own  coarse  phraseo- 
logy with  the  language  of  their  captives,  and 
the  rude  dialects  of  Provence  and  Sicily  contri- 
buted many  ingredients  to  the  composition  of 
the  Italian  tongue,  which,  while  destitute  of  the 
strength  and  majesty  of  the  Latin,  inherits  a 
delicacy  and  melodious  flow,  which  its  parent 
stock  never  possessed.*  Indeed,  from  one  end 
of  Europe  to  the  other,4  the  mixture  of  the 
Latin  with  the  Teutonic  confounded  all  the 
dialects,  and  gave  rise  to  new  ones  in  their 
place.  The  barbarous  nations  which  overthrew 
the  Roman  empire  subverted  its  language.  The 
grammars  of  the  modern  continental  nations 
were  formed,  by  mutual  concessions,  from  the 
conquerors  and  the  conquered.  Each  of  these 
*  Ketts'  Elements  of  Knowledge,  vol.  i. 


OF  LANGUAGE.  131 

tongues  of  the  south  of  Europe  is  founded  upon 
the  Latin,  but  their  forms  are  much  altered. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  principle  on  which 
other  modern  languages  were  formed,  and  of 
the  way  by  which  they  reached  their  present 
shape,  we  may  select  as  an  example  the  French 
tongue.  In  the  fifth  century,  the  Franks,  a 
people  of  Germany,  invaded  France,  and  con- 
quered its  ancient  inhabitants — the  Celts  and 
Romans.  By  a  mixture  of  the  dialects  of  these 
people  the  French  language  was  formed.  Five 
centuries  rolled  away  before  it  possessed  any 
portion  of  literature.  Long  after  this,  and 
very  gradually,  the  rude  expressions  and  un- 
couth phraseology  observable  in  its  earliest 
writers  yielded  to  more  appropriate  forms  of 
speech.  In  later  times  it  has  acquired  a  great 
degree  of  precision,  delicacy,  and  elegance ;  and, 
by  many,  it  is  esteemed  as  one  of  the  most 
graceful  of  existing  tongues. 

A  more  extended  illustration  may  be  offered 
in  the  history  of  the  English  language.  The 
tribe  to  which  it  belongs  is  the  Indo-European, 
to  which,  as  a  family,  all  philologers  agree  in 
awarding  superiority  over  either  of  the  other 
large  groups.  And  the  characteristics  of  our 
tongue  place  it  high  amongst  the  spoken  lan- 
guages of  the  world.  On  all  hands  it  is  allowed 
to  be  remarkable  for  its  grammatical  simplicity. 
In  this  respect  it  bears  a  close  resemblance  to 
the  Hebrew  language.  In  the  substantives 
there  is  but  one  variation  of  case  ;  and  it  is 
only  by  different  degrees  of  comparison  that 
changes  are  made  in  the  adjectives.  There  is 
16 


182  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

only  one  conjugation  of  the  verbs.  Nearly  all 
their  modifications  are  expressed  by  auxiliary 
verbs,  which  are  of  great  use  in  describing  the 
different  moods.  The  article,  possesses  a  strik- 
ing peculiarity,  as  it  is  indeclinable,  and  com- 
mon to  all  genders.  The  distinctions  m  the 
gender  of  nouns  are  agreeable  to  the  nature  of 
things,  and  are  not  applied  with  that  caprice 
which  prevails  in  many  other  languages.  This 
comparative  simplicity  of  structure,  it  may  be 
imagined,  would  render  it  much  easier  to  a 
learner  than  some  other  languages,  as  Italian 
or  French,  in  which  the  grammatical  forms  are 
much  more  complex.  The  testimony  of  expe- 
rience, however,  leads  to  another  conclusion,  as 
we  find  that  it  presents  very  great  difficulties 
to  foreigners ;  and  one  of  the  principal  of  these 
is  found  in  its  accent,  which  to  us  is  not  an 
uncompensated  evil,  as  it  adds  considerably 
to  its  poetic  powers.  Great  as  this  incon- 
venience is  to  a  stranger,  it  would  be  trifling, 
but  for  the  greatest  blemish  in  our  tongue,  its 
defective  orthography.  This  evil  cannot  fail 
to  perplex  any  one  attempting  to  master  the 
language. 

While  the  grammatical  peculiarities  of  the 
language  give  it  a  philosophical  character,  its 
terms  are  strong  and  expressive.  In  common 
with  most  Teutonic  tongues,  it  is  remarkable 
for  its  energy.  From  the  care  bestowed  on  its 
culture  by  writers  of  commanding  intellect,  it 
is  now  very  copious  and  elegant.  It  comes 
behind  none  in  variety,  possessing  as  it  does  so 
many  classical  synonymes  for  our  Saxon  word? 


OF  LANGUAGE.  183 

and  phrases.  No  Englishman  has  reason  to 
complain  that  his  ideas  cannot  be  properly 
expressed,  or  clothed  in  a  suitable  garb  ;  no 
English  author  is  under  the  necessity  of  writ- 
ing in  a  foreign  language  on  account  of  its 
superiority  to  our  own  ;  and  no  well-edu- 
cated person  amongst  us  needs  to  interlard 
his  ordinary  conversation  with  scraps  of  Latin, 
injudiciously  selected  ;  or  with  French  phrases, 
badly  pronounced,  in  order  to  give  utterance 
to  his  sentiments. 

By  slow  degrees,  our  language  has  arrived 
at  its  present  state.  A  people  of  Celtic  origin 
laid  its  foundation.  The  Celtic  element  in  it 
is,  however,  now  very  small,  having  no  part  in 
its  grammatical  structure,  while  the  words  it 
supplies  are,  at  most,  exclusively  used  to 
denote  some  of  the  great  physical  objects  of 
land  and  water.  The  Roman  conquest  en- 
grafted on  the  original  stock  a  variety  of 
Latin  branches,  which  disappeared  as  readily 
as  they  sprang  up,  when  the  more  enduring 
conquest,  effected  by  the  Saxons,  began  to  be 
felt.  Their  conquerors  introduced  their  lan- 
guage into  Britain,  and,  from  the  fragments  of 
their  laws,  history,  and  poetry,  yet  extant,  we 
know  that  it  was  capable  of  expressing,  with 
much  copiousness  and  energy,  the  sentiments 
of  a  people  in  the  state  of  civilisation  which 
prevailed  at  that  period,  even  in  the  more 
refined  parts  of  Europe. 

Of  all  the  languages  from  which  the  English 
is  derived,  the  Anglo-Saxon  holds  by  far  the 
most  important  place,  whether  we  regard  the 


184  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

number  of  its  contributions,  or  the  sort  of 
words  with  which  it  has  furnished  us.  The 
English  language  consists  of  about  thirty-eight 
thousand  words  :  of  these,  about  twenty-three 
thousand,  or  nearly  five-eighths,  are  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin.  Of  this  language,  as  written  in 
the  time  of  Alfred,  only  a  fifth  part  has  become 
obsolete  to  us. 

But  the  importance  of  its  contributions  to 
our  language  is  seen  even  more  in  their  quality 
than  in  their  quantity.  Our  grammar  is  almost 
exclusively  occupied  with  what  is  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin.  Our  chief  peculiarities  of  struc- 
ture and  of  idiom  belong  to  it ;  while  most  of 
the  classes  of  words,  which  it  is  the  office  of 
grammar  to  investigate,  are  derived  from  that 
language.  Thus  our  few  inflexions  are  all 
Anglo-Saxon.  Our  genitive,  the  general  mode 
of  forming  the  plural  of  nouns,  the  terminations 
ot  adjectives  in  er  and  est,  and  of  adverbs  in 
ly,  are  all  from  the  same  source.  Our  more 
important  parts  of  speech — such  as  articles  and 
definitives  generally,  adjectives,  pronouns,  irre- 
gular verbs,  and  adverbs — are  of  Anglo-Saxon 
origin. 

And  not  only  is  the  skeleton  of  our  language 
thus  derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon,  but  a 
considerable  part  of  its  body  and  clothing  may 
boast  of  the  same  origin.  From  this  language 
we  derive  the  words  which  occur  most  frequently 
in  discourse.  It  has  given  names  to  the  heavenly 
bodies,  as  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  It  has  fixed  the 
names  of  three  out  of  the  four  elements,  namely, 
earth,  fire,  and  water.  Out  of  the  four  seasons  of 


OF  LANGUAGE. 


185 


the  year  it  supplies  the  names  of  three — spring, 
summer,  and  winter.  Other  words  which  note 
divisions  of  time  are  derived  from  it,  and 
some  of  them  are  amongst  the  most  poetical 
terms  we  have,  as  day,  twilight,  sunrise,  and 
sunset.  To  this  language  we  are  indebted 
for  words  which  describe  the  component  parts 
of  the  beautiful  in  external  scenery,  and  most 
of  the  productions  of  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms.  From  this  tongue  we  derive  words 
descriptive  of  the  earliest  and  dearest  com- 
munions of  life.  It  is  the  language  of  daily 
familiar  converse,  and  embodies  nearly  all  our 
national  proverbs.  Many  of  our  invective, 
satirical,  and  humorous  phrases,  are  derived 
from  this  language,  which  has  survived  the 
Danish  and  the  Norman  conquests,  and  the 
invasion  of  hostile  forces  of  Greek  and  Latin 
words,  which  threatened  to  overwhelm  its  in- 
digenous terms. 

We  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  the 
Saxon  thus  retains  its  ascendency  in  the 
English  tongue,  as  it  gives  to  it  much  of  its 
raciness  and  force.  The  orator  and  the  poet 
can  never  cultivate  it  without  advantage.  The 
sounds  of  many  of  its  words  are  often  a  spell 
which  they  may  use  with  wonderful  effect. 
The  common  people  understand  it  more  readily 
than  they  do  words  of  classic  origin.  It  appeals 
most  powerfully  to  the  sensibilities  of  our  com- 
mon nature,  as  may  be  seen  in  those  Scripture 
narratives  or  statements,  the  words  of  which 
are,  almost  without  exception,  Anglo-Saxon. 
The  history  of  Joseph,  the  parable  of  the 
16* 


]  85  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

prodigal  son,  and  the  plaintive  declaration  of  the 
psalmist,  "  My  heart  is  smitten,  and  withered 
like  grass,  so  that  I  forget  to  eat  my  bread," 
may  be  cited  as  illustrations  of  its  beauty  and 
adaptation  to  move  the  strongest  and  most 
powerful  feelings  of  our  nature. 

Our  obligations  to  the  classical  elements 
incorporated  with  our  language  are  neither 
few  nor  unimportant.  They  have  not  only 
polished  and  refined  its  general  outline,  but 
have  made  most  valuable  contributions  to  our 
vocabulary.  We  are  not  only  indebted  to 
them  for  the  greater  part  of  the  language  of 
philosophy  and  science,  but  for  duplicates  oi 
many  common  words,  which  add  much  to  the 
variety  of  harmony  and  expression.  To  the 
Latin  we  are  especially  indebted  for  these 
advantages.  It  was  introduced  effectually  by 
Augustine,  and  was  not  extirpated  by  the 
Danes  from  any  considerable  part  of  the 
country.  The  Saxon  churchmen  were  amongst 
the  best  scholars  of  their  day.  Latin  was  the 
language  of  their  religion,  and  they  set  an 
example  which  was  followed  till  after  the  He- 
formation,  of  giving  to  the  world  their  choicest 
productions  in  this  classic  tongue.  Greek 
began  to  be  cultivated  extensively  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  vm. ;  and  this  language  has  enriched 
ours  with  many  scientific  and  ecclesiastical 
words,  but  beyond  this  it  has  not  much  affected 
our  tongue. 

On  the  conquest  of  England  by  William  the 
Norman,  French  was  introduced  into  his  court, 
and  to  the  halls  of  justice.      This,  however, 


OF  LANGUAGE.  187 

never  became  the  language  of  the  people, 
though  it  prevailed  amongst  the  higher  classes. 
The  intercourse  between  the  French  and 
English  for  several  centuries  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  many  French  words,  with  little  deviation 
from  their  original,  as  also  many  words  of 
Latin  derivation.  The  limited  influence  of  the 
French  language  on  ours  is  very  remarkable. 
Still  we  should  remember  that  we  are  indebted 
to  France,  and  to  other  countries,  for  an  influx 
of  phrases  descriptive  of  substantial  improve- 
ments, which  we  have  received  from  them. 
Music,  sculpture,  and  painting,  have  borrowed 
many  of  their  terms  from  Italy ;  several 
nautical  phrases  were  brought  from  Flanders 
and  Holland  ;  the  French  language  has  sup- 
plied us  with  military  and  gastronomic  terms  ; 
while  mathematics  and  philosophy  are  indebted 
to  Greek  and  Latin  coin  pounds.  Such  are  the 
chief  sources  of  the  English  language,  which,  if 
variegated  in  its  materials,  is  at  once  compact 
and  beautiful. 

The  fourteenth  century  may  be  referred  to 
as  the  time  when  the  modern  English  was  pro- 
perly commenced.  The  Saxon  chronicles  do 
not  come  down  quite  so  low  as  this,  showing 
that  their  language  was  on  the  wane.  About 
the  time  we  have  named,  a  great  change  was 
effected  in  the  phraseology  of  the  laws,  and  the 
pleadings  in  court,  by  the  abolition  of  French, 
and  the  introduction  of  the  vernacular  language. 
Soon  after  this  period  our  earliest  prose  writers 
began  to  flourish ;  and  now,  after  the  lapse  of 
five  centuries,  it  is  gratifying  to  find  our  old 


188  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

English  writers  so  intelligible  as  they  are. 
With  the  exception  of  a  few  obsolete  terms, 
Wycliffe  and  even  Chaucer  may  easily  be  read 
by  an  English  student. 

From  this  period  the  language  advanced  in 
refinement  and  copiousness,  till  the  days  of 
Elizabeth,  in  which  we  incline  to  think  it 
assumed  its  most  perfect  form.  The  writers  of 
the  next  generation  are  found  to  have  declined 
in  purity,  when  compared  with  Hooker  and 
Raleigh.  The  prose,  even  of  Milton  and  Bacon, 
though  very  excellent,  is  in  some  degree 
pedantic.  The  received  version  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  the  vernacular  tongue  has  done 
much  to  preserve  the  language  from  deteriora- 
tion, by  rendering  the  Bible  a  standard  of  ap- 
peal, which  is  all  but  universally  recognised. 

The  pure  and  beautiful  style  of  Dryden 
served  to  exalt  and  dignify  the  English  lan- 
guage. Addison's  grace  and  ease  must  be 
admired,  even  when  his  strength  is  doubted. 
Dr.  Johnson  conferred  numerous  advantages  on 
the  language,  while,  by  his  pedantic  style,  and 
introduction  of  Latin  words,  he  inflicted  an 
injury  upon  it,  from  which  it  has  but  recently 
recovered.  The  present  age,  so  prolific  ot 
writers,  has,  perhaps,  furnished  several  who 
would  suffer  nothing  from  comparison,  in  parity 
of  style,  with  any  class  of  authors  in  any  by- 
gone period.  Our  language  is  not  now  a 
fluctuating  one  ;  yet  it  is  in  some  danger  01 
being  corrupted  by  the  introduction  of  Ameri- 
can words,  many  of  which  have  been  long 
current  with  the  illiterate,  and  are  now  working 


OF  LANGUAGE.  189 

their  way  to  notoriety,  as  they  are  occasionally 
used  by  respectable  journalists,  and  even  in  the 
legislature  of  our  country. 

This  language  of  ours  stands  pre-eminent, 
even  among  the  languages  of  the  west.  "  It 
abounds  with  works  of  imagination  not  inferior 
to  the  noblest  which  Greece  has  bequeathed  to 
us  ;  with  models  of  every  species  of  eloquence  ; 
with  historical  compositions  which,  considered 
as  vehicles  of  ethical  and  political  instruction, 
have  never  been  equalled ;  with  just  and  lively 
representations  of  human  nature ;  with  the  most 
profound  speculations  on  metaphysics,  morals, 
government,  jurisprudence,  trade ;  with  full 
and  correct  information  respecting  every  ex- 
perimental science,  which  tends  to  preserve  the 
health,  to  increase  the  comfort,  or  to  enlarge 
the  intellect  of  man." 

It  was  proposed,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
to  invent  a  philosophical  language  for  universal 
adoption,  with  a  view  to  facilitate  communication 
amongst  learned  men  of  all  nations.  This  project 
engaged  some  attention,  but  it  was  soon  felt  to  be 
impracticable,  and  the  thought  was  consequently 
abandoned.  The  present  age  has  witnessed  the 
efforts  of  a  few  ardent  spirits  to  break  down 
the  existing  barriers  to  national  intercommuni- 
cation by  the  formation  of  a  universal  written 
language.  This  ingenious  attempt  is  likely  to 
prove  a  failure.  Christian  and  philanthropic  men 
look,  however,  with  hope  to  the  wider  diffusion  of 
the  English  language  as  the  ordained  means, 
in  the  hand  of  God,  of  extending  the  bless- 
ings of  civilisation   and  of  Christianity  with 


190  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

unparalleled  rapidity  amongst   the  nations  of 
the  earth. 

Never,  perhaps,  were  the  prospects  of  a 
rapid  extension  of  our  language  so  hopeful  as 
at  the  present  eventful  period  of  time.  The 
competitors  for  the  extension  of  any  one  lan- 
guage are  now  greatly  diminished.  There  is 
no  longer  a  conflict  between  the  living  and  the 
dead  tongues.  Latin  and  Greek  have  been 
superseded  by  English,  German,  and  French. 
Sanscrit  and  Arabic  are  supplanted  by  oriental 
vernaculars.  The  Spanish  and  Portuguese  are 
gradually  retreating  to  the  provinces  of  their 
own  peninsula.  The  German  language  has 
acquired  no  permanent  usage  in  the  new  world ; 
and  in  Europe  its  extension  is  limited  to 
scholars  and  to  men  of  science,  though  it  is 
studied  to  some  extent  by  commercial  men  as 
a  spoken  language.  The  Italian  has  never 
been  an  imperial  tongue.  The  only  European 
languages  now  extensively  propagating  them- 
selves in  the  world  are  the  French  and  the 
English ;  and  the  latter  is  rapidly  outstretching 
the  former. 

In  politics,  philosophy,  and  religion,  England 
has  now  the  pre-eminence.  The  overthrow  of 
the  French  empire  checked  the  progress  of  its 
language,  and  the  consolidation  of  the  Anglo - 
Saxon  power  on  the  American  continent  iy 
extending  ours.  In  trade,  dominion,  and  in- 
ternational ascendency,  France  cannot  cope 
with  Britain.  The  literary  treasures  of  England 
surpass  those  of  France.  The  English  press  is 
free,  the  French  press  till  recently  was  under 


OF  LANGUAGE.  191 

the  manipulations  of  a  censor.  The  colonies  of 
France  have  annually  been  decreasing  ;  the 
colonial  possessions  of  England  are  rapidly  ex- 
tending themselves  over  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  population  which  is  daily  increasing  in 
the  United  States  of  America  is  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  speaking  English.  In  South  Africa, 
and  in  New  Holland — with  its  cloud  of  islands 
in  the  surrounding  ocean — in  the  isles  of  the 
west,  and  in  Canada,  to  the  arctic  circle,  this 
language  is  advancing,  not  by  the  imperial 
authority  of  princes,  but  by  its  own  nature,  in 
the  hands  of  the  most  enterprising  and  intelli- 
gent colonists  of  the  earth.  Even  in  India  it 
is  spoken  by  the  higher  classes  of  natives  at 
the  seats  of  government,  and  is  likely  to  become 
the  language  of  commerce  throughout  the  seas 
of  the  east.  In  proportion  as  it  obtains  access  to 
the  markets  and  the  schools  of  those  regions,  it 
will  conduct,  in  its  train,  that  knowledge  and 
truth,  which  alone  can  dignify  and  bless  the 
nations  of  the  earth. 

Comparisons  have  frequently  been  instituted 
between  written  and  spoken  language.  While 
they  have  much  in  common,  there  are  peculiar 
advantages  belonging  to  each  ;  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  determine  their  relative  value  by 
the  application  of  any  one  general  rule.  We 
have  in  an  early  part  of  this  essay  descanted 
on  the  valuable  characteristics  of  articulation  in 
language,  and  it  will  be  in  harmony  with  our 
design  to  advert  briefly  to  some  of  the  peculiar 
advantages  of  writing,  which  do  not  belong  to 
speech.     It  is  not  confined,  like  oral  language, 


192  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

within  the  narrow  circle  of  a  listening  auditory, 
but  conveys  our  thoughts  to  absent  friends , 
and  propagates  our  sentiments  to  the  most  dis- 
tant regions  of  the  earth.  By  its  means  our 
opinions  and  principles  are  more  likely  to  be 
understood  than  by  speech.  The  reader  can 
pause,  and  revolve,  and  compare,  at  his  leisure, 
the  sentences  of  a  written  communication,  till 
he  fully  comprehends  its  meaning,  and  has  its 
import  imprinted  on  the  tablet  of  memory. 
And  writing  is  more  permanent  in  its  effects 
than  vocal  utterances.  These  are  fugitive  and 
passing,  and  must  be  caught  at  the  moment  of 
their  birth,  or  be  lost  for  ever ;  but  writing 
embodies  our  sentiments  for  the  benefit  of  the 
existing  race  of  readers,  and  hands  them  down 
to  succeeding  ages.  The  most  valuable  thoughts 
of  the  human  mind,  in  former  generations,  are 
thus  familiar  to  us.  The  treasures  of  the 
ancients  yield  themselves  up  at  our  bidding. 
By  means  of  books,  their  authors,  though 
dead,  continue  to  speak.  Without  the  art  of 
writing,  the  histories  of  ancient  times  had  never 
reached  us,  and  the  necessary  intercourse  of 
friendship  and  business  must  have  been  greatly 
retarded,  and  in  many  cases  wholly  obstructed. 
Without  it,  the  living  oracles,  which  teach  the 
science  of  salvation  and  reveal  the  God  of  truth, 
could  not  have  existed.  We  are  most  extensively 
benefited  by  the  use  of  alphabetical  characters. 

The  luxury  and  general  advantage  of  reading 
valuable  works  are  unquestionably  great.  No 
entertainment  is  now  so  cheap  as  reading,  nor 
is  any  earthly   pleasure  so  lasting.      Nothing 


OF  LANGUAGE.  193 

can  supply  the  place  of  books,  as  cheering  and 
soothing  companions  in  solitude  or  affliction. 
The  wealth  of  an  hemisphere  would  not  com- 
pensate for  the  benefits  they  impart.  A  wise 
discrimination  in  the  selection  of  authors  who 
are  read  is  most  important,  especially  to  the 
young  and  inexperienced,  whose  characters  will 
be  moulded,  and  whose  destinies  will  be  in- 
fluenced, by  their  habits  of  reading.  And  it 
may  be  admitted,  as  an  unquestionable  fact, 
that  one  single  book,  carefully  perused,  and 
thoroughly  understood,  will  be  of  more  service 
to  the  mind,  than  fifty  which  are  hastily  skim- 
med over,  and  forgotten  even  sooner  than  they 
were  read.  St.  Paul  enjoined  Timothy  to  "  give 
attendance  to  reading."  The  wise  love  of  this 
employment  will  prove  to  the  young  a  great 
preservative  from  evil,  and  to  the  aged  and 
infirm  will  yield  the  highest  satisfaction.  Ir 
was  Fenelon  who  said,  "  If  the  crowns  of  all  the 
kingdoms  of  Europe  were  laid  down  at  my  feet 
in  exchange  for  my  love  of  reading,  I  would 
spurn  them  all." 

No  invidious  comparisons  need,  however,  bo 
attempted  between  the  benefits  resulting  to 
mankind  from  written  or  articulated  language. 
They  each  have  their  separate  and  influential 
spheres  of  action.  If  speech  be  essential  to  the 
very  existence  of  society,  writing  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  full  development  of  all  the 
blessings  of  a  social  state.  The  extension  of 
education  in  this  country  is  rapidly  conveying 
these  benefits,  not  only  to  the  rich  and  middle 
classes,  but  to  the  lower  orders  of  the  com- 
17 


194  THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS 

munity.  The  cottages  of  our  land  are  now 
richer  in  books  and  in  the  means  of  fully  com- 
prehending them,  than  "were  the  castles  of 
barons,  and  the  palaces  of  princes,  a  few  cen- 
turies ago.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  our 
heavenly  Father  wills  the  communication  of 
these  advantages  to  all  his  children.  The  fact, 
that  the  revelation  of  his  mercy  to  our  race 
is  committed  to  writing,  impressively  teaches 
us  that  all  to  whom  it  is  addressed  should 
at  least  be  so  instructed  as  to  be  able  to  read 
its  contents,  and  by  these  be  made  wise  to 
salvation,  so  as  to  offer  to  him  "  the  sacrifice 
<»f  praise,  that  is,  the  fruit  of  their  lips." 

We  have  sought  in  this  disquisition  on  lan- 
guage, while  tracing  its  history  and  unfolding  its 
structure  and  manifold  benefits,  to  prove  our 
great  obligation  to  the  Creator  for  having  con- 
ferred this  boon  on  the  human  race.  We  deem 
our  proofs  as  to  the  Divinity  of  its  origin  con- 
clusive and  unassailable.  Scarcely  less  demon- 
strative to  us  are  the  evidences  adduced  of  the 
fact,  that  when  God  condescended  to  give  a  writ- 
ten revelation  of  himself  to  mankind,  he  graci- 
ously taught  them  the  use  of  alphabetical  cha- 
racters, that  the  Divine  and  interesting  records 
of  his  will  might  be  handed  down  from  one 
generation  to  another,  till  "  time  shall  be  no 
longer."  The  entire  dependence  of  the  creature 
upon  God  and  the  bounty  of  the  Most  High,  in 
thus  richly  providing  for  the  ever-growing 
wants  of  mankind,  are  thus  manifested.  For 
man,  God  has  done  everything  that  was  re- 
quisite for  a  being  who  at  first  had  no  other 


Or  LANGUAGE.  195 

instructor.  He  taught  him  how  to  use  his  powers 
of  speech,  conversed  with  him,  communicated 
knowledge  to  his  mind  ;  and  when,  in  a  subse- 
quent period  of  his  history,  he  needed  the  means 
of  preserving  the  stores  of  information  he  had 
acquired  by  history,  experience,  and  observation, 
he  taught  him  the  wondrous  art  of  permanently 
guarding  the  accumulated  treasures  of  his  spe- 
cies for  the  advantage  of  each  succeeding  age. 

The  conclusions  to  which  this  subject  has 
conducted  us  serve  to  deepen  our  conviction  oi 
the  truth  and  authority  of  the  sacred  Scriptures : 
and  to  exhibit  the  worthlessness  and  unfounded 
character  of  those  systems  of  speculative  unbelief 
which  originate  in  intellectual  pride  or  moral 
pravity,  and  which  aim  at  changing  the  truth 
of  God  into  a  lie.  The  Bible  passes  through 
every  ordeal  uninjured  by  the  searching 
scrutiny  to  which  it  is  exposed.  The  evi- 
dences of  its  Divinity  are  accumulating  with 
the  flight  of  time  and  the  disclosures  of  centu- 
ries. Every  fresh  research  in  human  history 
confirms  its  statements,  so  far  as  they  are 
capable  of  receiving  confirmation  from  such  a 
source.  No  science  arrays  itself  against  the 
Bible.  Adverse  testimony,  drawn  from  partial 
facts  or  hastily  constructed  theories,  gives  place 
to  confirmation  on  a  more  intelligent  acquaint- 
ance with  the  things  presented.  All  history 
and  philosophy  does  homage  to  the  book  oi 
God.  Our  subject  is  thus  in  harmony  with 
the  thousand  voices  of  earth,  for  we  are  bold  to 
affirm  that  no  candid  inquiry  can  be  instituted 
into  the  origin  and  progress  of  language  which 


196    THE  ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  LANGUAGE. 

will  not  end  in  illustrating  the  harmony  of  its 
ascertained  facts  with  the  records  of  the  books 
written  by  Moses. 

Allowing  our  conclusions  to  be  correct,  there 
falls  to  perish,  amidst  the  ruins  of  its  own 
absurdities,  that  pile  of  human  folly  which 
represents  man  as  emerging  from  a  brutal  and 
brute  condition,  by  his  own  unaided  powers,  to 
a  state  of  civilized  existence,  in  the  progress  of 
which  transformation  he  invented  language  to 
assist  his  advancement  to  the  dignity  of  a 
rational  being.  The  theory  was  reared,  on  a 
worthless  foundation,  by  parties  who  attempted, 
with  vast  labour  and  ingenuity,  to  cover  its 
defects  by  the  addition  of  meretricious  orna- 
ments. It  was  dignified  by  its  builders  with 
the  title  of  the  temple  of  historic  truth,  and 
designed  by  them  as  a  tower  of  strength,  from 
which  to  assail  the  outworks  of  Christianity, 
and  eventually  to  undermine  its  citadel.  The 
fragments  that  survive  attest  at  once  its  design 
and  its  complete  failure.  But  there  rises  by 
the  side  of  its  mouldering  ruins  a  structure  of 
fair  proportions,  whose  base  is  the  rock  of 
unchanging  authority,  whose  type  is  in  the 
volume  of  infallible  truth,  whose  perfection  of 
beauty  reflects  the  Divine  glory,  and  the  en- 
tablature of  whose  portico  bears  upon  it  the 
imperishable  inscription — god  made  man  in  his 
own  image,  intelligent,  holy,  and  happy  ! 


2^~2-S 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


B     000  008  276     8 


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